


Lunacy

by sciencefictioness



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Biting, Blood, Elements of Omegaverse, Gore, M/M, Mentions of Ritual Drug Use, Mentions of alcoholism, Platonic Bedsharing, Platonic Cuddling, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, This Fic Really Isn't All That Dark But Damn Those Tags Make It Look That Way, Violence, Werewolves, biting kink, mentions of child abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-17
Updated: 2018-08-12
Packaged: 2018-09-18 03:11:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 43,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9365174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sciencefictioness/pseuds/sciencefictioness
Summary: Life wasn't generally kind to Levi.  Which was why on his sixteenth birthday, he didn't bother staying up late to see if a soulmark appeared on his wrist.  People like him didn't get soulmates.Any mark in Levi's skin was generally put there with a fist.So saying he was shocked when one appeared was an understatement, but it couldn't be that easy, could it?Life wasn't kind to Levi, which must have been why Levi's soulmark was written in a dead language that no one had spoken in three thousand years.He couldn't say he was surprised.





	1. Mark

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kahleniel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kahleniel/gifts).



Lightning strobed outside his windows, thunder booming intermittently in the distance, rain pounding loud against the tin roof of the trailer.  And Levi, he loved storms, he really did.  Especially at night.  He liked to sit outside on the porch and watch the heavens shake apart, trees swaying back and forth as though they would topple over, everything lit up in stuttering flashes.  It was one of the only things that gave him any peace, and usually at the first sign of dark clouds and ominous skies, something loosened inside him.

 

Except there was a leak in his room now, and the broken part of his window was covered with aluminum foil and duct tape.  Not to mention that his space heater had stopped working a few days before, and considering it was the twenty-fourth of December, Levi could only be grateful that it was raining and not snowing.  With how cold it was, and the sounds from the roof, there was probably some sleet mixed in with the rain.  It would be frozen solid by morning, making the holiday roads slick and dangerous.  

 

Good thing he didn’t have anywhere to go on his birthday, Levi thought wryly.  He’d spend the day hoping his uncle had drank enough the previous night to keep him knocked out well into the afternoon, and then doing his best to stay out of Kenny’s way.  Something Levi was good at, after so many years.  

 

He could walk across their dilapidated trailer without making a sound, knew which parts of the floor creaked, which cabinets groaned when they opened.  Levi haunted the hallways, was a ghost in his own home.

 

Had to be.

 

Levi pulled his blankets up higher, fighting the urge to shiver beneath them.  It would only make things worse, and once he started it was hard to stop.  All he wanted to do was sleep, but between the thunder outside and the chill seeping into his bones, it was proving difficult.  

 

Some people tried to stay awake for their sixteenth birthday, depending on what time they had been born.  They watched the clock count down excitedly, holding their breaths as the exact moment of their births approached, fingertips dancing over their wrists.

 

Wondering whether or not they’d be marked.  Hoping they would be, for some reason Levi could not fathom.

 

Not everyone had a soulmate.  Less than half of the population, in fact, though the exact percentage varied from year to year.  Those who did received a mark at sixteen, inky black words on their wrist in the handwriting of their soulmate.  The first words they would ever speak to one another, or the first they’d spoken, if they’d met one another already.  

 

Levi didn’t know what time he’d been born.  His mother had died when he was very young, and he’d been stuck with Kenny ever since.  It had not been easy, and there was nothing about Levi’s life that made him think that fate or destiny was anything but cruel.

 

He did not expect a mark on his wrist, because that would imply there was someone out there just for him.  Someone whose hand would fit perfectly in his own.  Someone whose arms would slide around him, and then Levi would be home.  

 

Would be whole.

 

Levi had not been whole since the morning he realized his mother wasn’t ever going to wake up again, and almost a decade of words that were too loud and hands that fell too heavy taught him not to wish for the impossible.  Levi wished for silence, and invisibility.  A full stomach and a warm bed.  The absence of bruises.

 

So he listened to the storm, and tried to ignore the cold, and stared into the half light of his room as it flashed with erratic brightness.

 

Then at 3:17 AM, just as his eyelids grew heavy, Levi’s wrist started burning.  As though someone had written across it with white-hot metal, except all heat and no pain.  Levi lifted his arm up to his face, waiting for lightning to crash outside, disbelief rolling through him.  

 

Disbelief, because Levi had a black eye that was still fading, his knuckles scabbed and sore, this time from a fight he’d gotten into in the park a few nights before and not Kenny’s fist.  He didn’t own a pair of jeans that weren’t full of holes, and it was not a stylistic choice.  Levi spent his summers sweltering and his winters freezing and his nights laying in bed and praying that his uncle would fall asleep.

 

_ Please, just fall asleep, don’t come in here. _

 

Good things didn’t happen to him.  Fate was something dark and hostile that knew Levi’s name and spoke it with malice.

 

Yet there they were, black marks on his wrist, unmistakable in the blinking light of the storm and Levi’s throat went tight.  His eyes stung, and his chest ached, and Levi missed someone he’d never even met.  He didn’t know what the words said, couldn’t risk turning the light on and calling attention to himself in case Kenny was awake, but it didn’t matter.

 

Levi curled up around his wrist, and he didn’t fight the tears that came, because there was no stopping them.  They poured out of him, and he shuddered, but it wasn’t from the cold.  Levi buried his face in a pillow to muffle the whimpering sounds he made, and let everything go.

 

It was dark, and there was no one with him, but Levi wasn’t alone.  And it was terrifying, and beautiful, and Levi allowed himself to fall apart until sleep finally claimed him.

 

……..

 

When the sun rose and crept in through Levi’s windows, the first thing he did after opening his eyes was pull up his wrist to read the words there, and he couldn’t help but laugh.

 

Nothing was ever easy for him.

 

Levi’s mark wasn’t written in the Mitrian he spoke.  Or Trostian, or Stonish.  Nothing with letters, not in any way Levi understood them.  It also wasn’t the angular characters of Milesse, or the swirling flow of Seruss.  Levi wasn’t an expert in languages by any means, written or otherwise, but he could recognize most of them and he had no idea what the origin on the words on his wrist might be.  Not that it was totally unfamiliar, in a vague sort of way.  Levi remembered seeing a documentary about ancient cultures once in history class.

 

The marks on his wrists almost looked like they were written in fucking runic.  Slashes and lines and dots with shapes thrown in, triangles that were struck through with dashes, characters that looked like half finished remnants of some foreign alphabet.  Levi couldn’t picture it written out on paper.  Carved into a cave wall, maybe, or tattooed into the back or arms of some tribal warrior somewhere, but not filling up a book or the pages of a letter.  

 

Even in the midst of his disappointment, Levi found himself tracing the words on his wrist with something indescribable fluttering in his chest.  He was _ marked.   _ He had a _ soulmate.  _  It felt surreal.  Too good to be true, like there had been some kind of mistake and the mark wasn’t really his.  As though it might vanish next time he blinked his eyes.  Yet there it was, again and again, warm under his fingertips each time his lids came back open.

 

Then there was a loud clattering noise from the kitchen followed by a hissed profanity, and at the sound of Kenny’s voice Levi covered his mark protectively with his hand.  Like he needed to keep it safe from him, which was stupid.  There was no way to hide it from him forever, and even if he saw the mark, Kenny wouldn’t be able to read it, either.  His grasp on their own language was tenuous, let alone any others.  Levi let his hand fall away, smiling, able to feel just how unsettling and manic expression he wore was without seeing it.

 

Because this was  _ his.  _  Kenny couldn’t take it, or hurt it, or change it.  Couldn’t break it, couldn’t erase it.  It was immovable.  Incorruptible.

 

It was the first thing Levi had ever possessed that was all his own.  The first thing he’d ever looked at and felt proud of, and fuck it, he didn’t care what Kenny thought.  Or anyone else, for that matter.  Some people covered up their soulmarks.  Not everyone figured out who their soulmate was, between common phrases and bad intuition, and a mark was a surefire way of making people steer clear of someone romantically.  No one wanted to start a relationship with a marked person, only to risk losing them if they found their soulmate.  

 

Even if he had zero interest in dating, Levi wouldn't cover his mark.  Not then, not ever.  He wanted everyone to see.

 

_ Look, see, I’m not alone. _

  
_ I’m not broken. _


	2. Bite

The drums were loud, even from far away, though Eren could not longer feel the vibrations in his feet.  His skin hurt, along his back and down his arms, fresh tattoos still throbbing.  The ink had taken hours upon hours even with half a dozen people working on it, and he’d been laid out since sunrise with sharpened bones biting into him.  Now the tan flesh of shoulders and biceps  were covered in the black marks of the tribe.  The sun and the moon and the goddess, the wolf and the flame and the stone.  Twisting tendrils, shapes and lines and symbols, all telling stories of his first hunt, his family, his prowess as a warrior.  It hurt more than anything Eren had ever experienced, and he’d taken arrows to his limbs and a spear to the side before.  It hurt, but it was worth it.  Sixteen winters, and Eren was a man, even if he hadn’t woken up soulmarked.  He was strong, he was a warrior now, he had his ink.  Even without words on his wrist, without a half-soul, it was enough for him.

 

His skin ached, but not his feet.  He could run for miles and miles without feeling the sting on his bare soles, long ago accustomed to the rigors of the hunt.  Eren’s bow fit his hand like he’d been born with it there, like it had grown along with his bones and flesh and skin.  If it had been a normal hunt, Eren’s heart wouldn’t have been racing in his chest.  Usually the chase gave Eren an eerie sense of calm, of purpose.

 

But the moon was full, and lykos had come into the village for the first time since the previous winter.  One of them had mauled a child, torn out their throat and left them lifeless at their mother’s feet as arrows rained down on the creature.  It was both a blessing and a curse that the boy had died quickly from the wounds.

 

No one bitten by a lykos could be allowed to live.  Not even a child.

 

Now the drums were pounding to sound out the hunt, the children and those men and women who were not fighters gathered in the the center of the village with most of the warriors standing guard.  A hunting party had been dispatched by the elders, and even if Eren hadn’t been freshly tattooed and ascended, he would have been among those chosen to go after their enemies.

 

Walking the line between fearless and foolish, there was no one else who would run quite so recklessly after a lykos.  He’d been separated from the others in the group, through a mixture of his own speed and the unforgiving terrain, but Eren could feel how close he was to finding his prey.  Something instinctive, his breathing going steady, hands itching to nock an arrow, eyes narrowing on the moonlit forest around him.  

 

Some birds startled out of a nearby tree.  A rustling of leaves, the snapping of a twig.  Eren’s gaze swung toward the small noises, an arrow finding its way into his hand.  He pulled the bowstring half taut even as his fresh ink was pulled in kind, his stone blade a comforting weight on his hip, the club that hung from his back not a burden to bear despite its heaviness.  

 

His arrows found their marks more readily than any of the archers in his tribe, his knife deft in his palm, his club dangerous enough to make even the most seasoned warriors of his people wary when they sparred.  He was the fiercest in his village, maybe not the most skilled, but Eren presented a bigger threat than any three fighters combined.  Everyone knew it, even if some were loathe to admit.  He always came out victorious.  Bruised, and bleeding, but triumphant.  Eren wore his weapons like a second skin, and without them he would have felt just as flayed.  

 

All of them were totally useless in the split second it took for the lykos to leap from the darkness at Eren’s side and sink long, white teeth into his gut.  Deeper than any of the knives he’d ever taken, sharper than any arrowhead, and even through the agony of the mortal wound he’d been dealt Eren managed to pull his blade and bury it in the lykos’ throat.  It wouldn’t kill the animal, Eren had missed his target in the melee, but the blow was enough to startle the lykos into retreat.  The beast pulled back, taking some of Eren’s flesh and blood and viscera with it, intestines stretching between his stomach and the lykos’ mouth for impossibly long moments until they snapped.  

 

Eren fell, landing on his back in the underbrush, leaves and sticks biting into his sore tattooed flesh.  He tried and failed to raise himself into a sitting position, and ended up propped up on one elbow, eyes flitting panicked in the darkness.  He’d dropped his bow without thinking, not that it would do him much good at the moment if he’d managed to keep it somehow.

 

He needed both his hands to hold himself together.  Even then Eren was failing at the task, bright red gushing out to cover his palms, his thighs, the ground below him.  Flesh slipping through his fingers, and Eren realized he must be in shock, because once the initial sharp sting faded away there was not much pain.  He felt cold, body shivering all over suddenly, jaw shaking, and the raw skin on his back and arms wasn’t pulsing with every beat of his heart anymore.  The moon shone eerily bright overhead, catching his gaze and holding it.

 

Eren couldn’t recall it ever being quite so beautiful.  He stared, captivated by the pearly glow that shone through the trees to bathe him in soft light.  It seemed to descend in the sky as he looked at it, swelling vivid among the stars.  Notes of faraway music drifted to his ears, and he closed his eyes to listen, but couldn’t quite catch the song.  

 

A vicious snarling brought him back to the woods where he was bleeding out into dirt, and the lykos crouched a few feet away, teeth bared at him in fury.  Eren wondered where the fear was, the terror he should be feeling, the brutal helplessness.

 

There was only hostility, and Eren was baring his teeth in turn, angry at the lykos in front of him for interrupting.

 

All he wanted was stillness, and quiet, and to listen to the low notes the moon was singing to him.  An inhuman growl bubbled up from his chest, rumbling out louder than should be possible.  Eren fought to get his feet underneath him, not reaching for his club but opening his mouth to hiss instead.

 

Then another shadow swept from the darkness, slamming into the lykos in front of him with an audible thump.  A second followed it, and a third, and soon there were a half dozen of the beasts all piled on the lykos who’d torn out Eren’s stomach.  The snarling and growling were loud enough that Eren wanted to cover his ears, but it was over in a matter of moments.  The largest of the lykos dragged his dead brethren over to Eren, laying the creature at his feet as though in offering.

 

Eren watched with lips still pulled back from his teeth as the lykos shuddered all over, and then there wasn’t a wolf in front of him but a man.  Tall, and blond, with the scruff of a beard and eyes that shone in the night.  He spoke in stilted Shiganti, as though from some faraway village that did not speak Eren’s mother tongue, the words not coming together as smoothly as they should.

 

“I am sorry for the attack on your people.  He was…”  The man seemed to struggle with his phrasing, continuing after a few seconds of hesitation.  “He was lost to moonsong.”

 

Eren blinked, still trying to process what had happened.  There were whispers of the curse of the lykos, that once bitten a man would become a beast.

 

None of those legends ever mentioned that the man might change back.

 

‘Lost to moonsong.’

 

_ He killed a child, _ Eren wanted to say, but his mouth would do nothing but growl.  

 

_ He killed me. _

 

Eren’s teeth were too sharp for words, his stomach achingly hungry despite being torn apart in his hands, and he realized through the haze of aggression exactly what happened, what he would become.  What he had lost was not his life, but something more important.

 

Eren had lost his soul.  The man spoke again, a forlorn expression on his face, eyes shining with emotion Eren could not place.

 

“The wolf, it will take you.  Your wounds are already healing.  I am sorry for that, too.  He got away from us.  We should have put him down before, but…  He was our brother.  We had to try.”  

 

Eren glanced down at his stomach, eyes going wide as he watched his organs stitching themselves back together.  His wounds closing, the blood ceasing its flow, skin stretching and growing over the hole in his belly.

 

Watched himself becoming a monster, becoming immortal, and all he could think was,  _ dead. _

 

_ I’d be better off dead. _

 

Until he felt a burning on his wrist, and when he lifted it to his face, there lit up by the moonlight  was a word sprawled across his skin.  Not in Shiganti.  Not in any tongue Eren recognized, though he knew of only the few languages of their closest neighbors.  It was swirling and smooth, a work of art in letters.  Just as black as the ink in his back, but more beautiful than anything he’d ever seen before.  It was impossible, the day of his birth had come and gone.  The mark should have appeared before the moon rose, or not at all, yet there it was.  Something settled inside him, a strange calm rolling over Eren, a sense of completeness.

 

_ Yes, finally, this,  _ and Eren was drunk on the moon, on the night.

 

On the words in his skin telling him that he wasn’t alone, even if no one had been beside him.

 

The lykos-turned-human had seen them appear, too, and a shocked smile crept across his face.

 

“Your half-soul was too far away for you to reach in this lifetime.  A blessing you got another one, then.”  He crouched down, staring until Eren met his eyes, and spoke in a voice laced with command.  “You will come with us.  We will keep you safe, and keep others safe from you, until you tame your wolf.  Then you can do what you wish.”

 

Something brushed over Eren with the words, like a soft breeze, tugging at his chest but then vanishing.  He shook his head, bared his teeth, and managed to pull his own voice out from where it had been lost behind aggression.  Eren bit out his answer, every syllable clipped and strained.

 

“I’m not going anywhere with you.”  The blond cocked his head, looking confused, and raised his voice.

 

“You  _ will  _ come with us.”  There was that ephemeral wind again, stronger this time, there and yet not.  Eren realized with some ancient part of himself that had not existed before that this man was trying to command him.  To use his wolf, and force Eren to obey.  He shook his head a second time, his reply twined with a growl, the very idea of being  _ dominated  _ making him rile.

 

“I.  Will.  Not.”  

 

The group of lykos behind the man begin to shift warily at his words, unsettled for some reason Eren couldn’t fathom, and the blond’s mouth fell open.  He looked disbelieving, as though Eren was doing something impossible, and Eren fought down the urge to snap his teeth at him.  The blond man huffed out a breath, somewhere between a sigh and laughter.  Then he reached down and ran his fingers through the gore on Eren’s abdomen, now mostly superficial, his skin sealing itself together supernaturally fast.  The lykos’ hand was dripping crimson when he withdrew it, and he stuck blood-wet fingertips in his mouth.

 

Eren shivered in a place deeper than his bones, heart beating too fast in his chest, teeth grinding in his jaw.   There was energy pulling on his veins, trying to tug them out, to tie them together with something bigger than himself.  The blond sank his teeth into his own forearm, and took those same wet fingers and soaked them in the blood that poured from the bite.  Then he crouched down, moving too fast for Eren to react.  Gory fingers found their way into Eren’s mouth, and he recoiled, but it was too late.

 

The taste of someone else’s blood on his tongue should have been repulsive, but instead it was sweet and warm and electric.  Power hummed in his hands and his feet and his mouth, making him vibrate with it, ready to burst.  Everything went hazy, the world fuzzy all around him, eyes falling half lidded.  It felt like when the elders had given him the smoke and tea, sending him on a journey of sounds and voices and starlight until he had traveled unending miles through sky and forest, yet still sat next to the ceremonial fires upon coming back.  Eren felt high, licking the warm fluid from his lips, eyes blinking slow.  Drugged, and euphoric, energy still trying to pull at him but now it was less intrusive.  As though he was adrift in the sea, and this lykos simply wanted to take his hand and pull him ashore.

 

Eren wanted to be ashore, wanted to bind himself to whatever it was this wolf was trying to give him.  The man was speaking, still in broken Shiganti, but even if he couldn’t hear Eren knew the words.  Felt them in his soul, etched there since the day he was born, waiting to break open.

 

“Blood of our blood, moon in our night, we bind you.”  Then Eren’s lips moved on their own, ecstasy rushing high, and there was no fighting it.

 

“Blood of my blood, moon in my night, I am bound.”  

 

Eren shook all over, gasping as sensation at him alive.  It was climax, despite not being in any way sexual.  Shuddering, blissful completion, and he quaked as the feelings ebbed back and faded.

 

When he opened his eyes again, he could  _ feel  _ them.  All the lykos, every one of them a hushed whisper in his mind.  Eren knew how many there were, and their thoughts rushed through his head unbidden, a jumble of incoherency.  There was one thing they had in common, all of them besides the lykos who had given Eren his blood.

 

They were afraid of him.  

 

_ He is too wild.   _

 

_ He will break us. _

 

Eren’s gaze flitted up to the blond in front of him, and without asking he knew this was  _ Alpha.   _ Part of Eren wanted to kneel in front of him.  Tilt his head to the side, expose his throat,  _ submit _ .

 

Another part wanted to bare his teeth and see whose growl was louder.  Whose bite was deeper, whose claws were sharper.

 

His muscles itched to fight, hands curling into fists, eyes lighting up the throw ethereal green light out in front of him.

 

Eren realized they were right to be afraid, because in that moment, he did want to break someone.  Anyone.  Everyone.  Wanted to see just how far into the forest his howl would reach.

 

Just how much blood he could spill with these new gifts the moon had given him.

 

Louder than the other voices in his mind, the Alpha spoke to Eren, a slow grin creeping across his face.

 

 _I am not afraid of you,_ _little wolf. You won’t break us.  You’ll make us strong._

 

Later on he would lament the loss of his humanity.  The loss of those he loved and held dear, the people he would never see again.  The village he was born in that he couldn’t return to.  His bed of furs, and his fellow warriors, and all he’d ever known in life.  The sound of the drums, and the smell of the elder’s smoke, and soft lilt of Shiganti all around him.

 

But right then the moon was beautiful, and he was strong, and the blood in his mouth tasted like home.

 

And the words on his wrist were warm, and Eren staggered to his feet and followed his pack, mind lost in thoughts of his mate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to throw Eren's POV out there for you. Now you gotta wait a week or so.


	3. Fist

The first thing Kenny did when he saw Levi’s mark, over a week after his birthday passed, was laugh around the cigarette hanging from his lips.  

 

_ ‘Of course your mark is fucked up, just like everything else about you.’ _

 

The second thing he did was eat a fist to the face, the only hand Levi had ever raised to the man in spite of how often he’d suffered under Kenny’s own.  It wasn’t the brightest thing he’d ever done considering Kenny was sober and hungover and easily twice his size, but Levi decided he wasn’t going to tolerate anyone insulting his soulmark, consequences be damned.

 

He still wore bruises on his face when school started back, and Levi was fairly sure one of his ribs was at least fractured, but he didn’t really care.  It wasn’t the only broken bone he’d felt aching under his skin and ignored, and it probably wouldn’t be the last.  The teachers didn’t look twice at him, despite the obvious beating he’d taken.  Levi was a ‘problem student’, he got into fights, he slept in class when he bothered to go at all, and everything his teachers said was met with a sigh or look of disdain.

 

Mostly because they treated him like dirt, and he refused to do anything but respond in kind.  For as long as he could remember, when they looked at Levi they saw a poor kid from the wrong side of town, in the wrong clothes, and anticipated trouble.  Eventually it was easier to just give them what they wanted, and he wondered how many others had become the worst versions of themselves like that.

 

Living down to expectations was easier than changing them.

 

Levi ended up suspended that first day back after someone made a snide comment about the words on his wrist.  The guy wouldn’t leave it alone, wouldn’t let it go, and Levi wasn’t inclined to turn the other cheek.  A few more incidents, a few more suspensions, a few more boys going home with black eyes and bloody noses, and almost everyone had learned their lesson.

 

One didn’t mention Levi’s soulmark.  Not to insult it.  He got into fights with a handful of guys.  Got slapped more than once by mouthy girls when he mouthed right back, and he probably deserved it, but no one brought up his mark a second time.

 

It was more trouble than it was worth, which was pretty much what everyone thought of Levi as a whole.  

 

Isabel and Farlan were an oasis of comfort in a desert of misery.  Their mother didn’t abuse the pair so much as neglect them, long hours of work at multiple jobs draining her until there wasn’t anything left but exhaustion.  But when he was at their house he didn’t have to live in fear of his uncle coming home, even if there was often nothing to eat.  Farlan could make rice and noodles a thousand different ways, though, and Isabel stitched up the holes in Levi’s clothes, and cleaned his scabbed knuckles when he threw them recklessly at someone.  Their couch was godawful, and he woke up sore without fail, but it was still better than his own place.  He’d take hunger over right hooks any day.

 

Eventually all those hours Levi had been forced to spend helping Kenny under the hood of a car paid off.  He got a job as an apprentice at a mechanic shop, and Farlan ended up working in a hole in the wall food restaurant.  Isabel was hired on as a waitress, and the three of them dropped out of high school together at seventeen and found a shitty two bedroom duplex in between their respective workplaces.  

 

Farlan and Levi shared a room, and a bed, out of necessity.  Which was unfortunate because Farlan snored like a freight train.  He was all limbs at night, and Levi never failed to catch an elbow to the face or a knee in the balls.  Farlan hogged the blankets, kicked them off altogether, or managed to tangle them up so fully that Levi couldn’t get them unraveled in his somnolence.  The paint in their rooms was hideous, and the sinks leaked no matter what Levi did to them, and the neighbor’s dog barked all night long.  Farlan chewed with his mouth open like some sort of caveman, and Isabel was the messiest human being on earth.  

 

Absolutely no one got laid.  

 

There was a hole in the floor of one of the lower kitchen cabinets that no one could be bothered to do anything about, and sometimes they woke up to find a random animal scurrying around their house.  Levi chased his fair share of raccoons and angry stray cats out the door with a broom while Farlan screamed like a lunatic and Isabel laughed at him until she wept.

 

But there was food in the cupboards when Farlan didn’t bring home dinner from the restaurant, and no one shouted unless it was about Isabel’s bad taste in movies.  The only fights Levi got in anymore were of the verbal sort, with old men who thought he was overcharging for labor on their cars, and the occasional scrap as he walked home from work.

 

Still the wrong side of town, but Farlan said it was probably just Levi’s face.  He couldn’t really argue the point.  Life was far from perfect, but compared to what had come before, it was utopia.

 

Paradise wasn’t always beautiful sunsets and soft breezes and glittering waves.  Sometimes it was opening your eyes and knowing everything wasn't about to fall apart.  

 

Sometimes heaven was a full stomach, some quiet words, Isabel’s fingers scratching through his hair.  Hot water and clothes that were still in one piece.  A gentle nudge on Levi’s shoulder to wake him up when he slept through his alarm instead of a voice screaming in his ear.  

 

That particular morning he didn’t need the help.  Levi’s eyes opened long before his cell went off to let him know it was time to get ready for work.  Farlan had taken their comforter and wrapped himself up in it, but Levi wasn’t left shivering like he usually would have been.  He felt warm despite the chill of the room, and itchy in a way that had nothing to do with his skin.  Restless.  Twitchy.

 

Levi had the strangest urge to get out of bed and start walking, though where he’d be going, he wasn’t exactly sure.

 

He wrote it off to nervousness, considering his plans for the afternoon, though the usual butterflies in the pit of his stomach were noticeably absent.  Levi was only scheduled for half a day at the shop, and after that he had an appointment with a college professor, this one visiting from out of state.

 

He’d spoken with dozens of them over the last couple of years, trying to figure out what language his mark was written in, to no avail.  Levi had traveled to nearby universities, and conversed with scholars and experts via email.  He sent pictures of his wrist to professors, and translators, and overeager grad students, yet had nothing to show for it.  Levi still wanted to know what the words meant, but he wasn’t as proactive with his efforts anymore.

 

Every attempt ended in disappointment, and Levi was tired of the sinking feeling that came with each fresh failure.  

 

Then he’d gotten a phone call from a professor who wanted to meet him.  They spoke too loud, and too fast, and Levi could barely understand a word other than their name.  Dr. Hange Zoe insisted on meeting in person, after seeing pictures of Levi’s mark.  He suggested a coffee shop, and Hange declined, a voice in the background protesting vocally all the while.

 

So after he left work Levi would head over to a local restaurant.  He’d go through the motions, and try not to look bored or exasperated, resignation already thick in his lungs.  He’d show them his soulmark, and they’d puzzle over it for awhile, maybe look through some research that would be no help.  They’d tell him they needed to investigate further, and Levi would go home without answers again.  Waiting for a phone call or an email that never came, or if it did, told him nothing at all.

 

Levi was nothing more than a forgotten note on dozens of desktops all over the world, buried beneath ungraded papers, lost among reports that would never be filed.

 

So the warmth in his skin, the itch in his chest, the voice in his head telling him  _ run, go, you’ve somewhere to be.... _

 

It was all Levi subconsciously preparing himself for inevitable failure.  

 

And if his mark felt hot, like it was going to burn out of his flesh, well…  

 

It was probably their shitty laundry detergent.

 

…………


	4. Wolf

 

It wasn’t long before Eren began to think of the men and women he was surrounded by as  _ pack. _  They slept huddled together at night in the dark of the forests, some of them in their lykos forms, others as humans.  At first it was strange, but soon Eren felt at home curled up next to them, with his hands fisting absently in soft fur, a stray limb tossed over his chest, a face breathing quietly against his back.  There was no place more comforting than in the midst of his new brothers and sisters, even if they butted heads sometimes.

 

No one seemed eager to give Eren any trouble.  Any time harsh words passed between him and another member of the pack, all it took was a heavy stare and their gaze flitted away in defeat.  The Alpha, Mike, tried to tell Eren that it wasn’t wise to exert his dominance so freely, but it was difficult to tamp down those instincts in such a new wolf, and even he was hard pressed to bend Eren to his will.  He would inevitably end up drawing strength from the pack to keep the freshly turned lykos in line, and each time the other wolves eyed Eren nervously, as though they were waiting for him to bare his teeth and lunge.  Eren didn’t really want to fight anyone, though.  He had no desire to take Mike’s place, to be a leader, to shoulder the responsibility of caring for so many wolves.

 

But his inner lykos was not easily soothed, and it was a constant battle to yield to Mike's wishes.  Eren had not even turned yet, would not do so until the next full moon.  The rest of the pack was waiting for his first shift before returning back to their settlement.  They’d brought the recently bitten wolf who attacked Eren far from their home for the previous moon, to keep their people safe in case they couldn’t rein him in when he went through the change.  He’d been lost to moonsong even before his turn.  In keeping their own families safe from harm they’d endangered Eren’s people, inadvertently allowing a child to be killed, and it was hard not to feel a little bitter about it.  Harder still when he realized that he might be put down by his packmates after he turned, if he was out of control.

 

Which was a very real possibility, and everyone seemed to know it.

 

Because sometimes at night, once the moon started to grow heavy in the sky, Eren heard music that wasn’t there.  He’d settle in pools of moonlight and close his eyes, tilt his head, furrow his brows.  Faint ethereal notes trickled through the pearlescent glow, and they were beautiful, and Eren wanted to hear more.

 

Then he’d open his eyes and see the others watching with dark expressions, and Eren would blink away the sounds, a sense of loss blooming in his chest.

 

They told him it might be hard for him to shift into his wolf the first time.  That it would be painful, that he would have a hard time holding onto his lykos form.  Mike did not seemed worried, and it was only when the moon hung heavy in the sky, full and bright, that Eren figured out why.

 

The moon had barely risen, and Eren was human one moment, and wolf the next.  A breath he’d been keeping in too long let out all at once, and the shift rolled over him like a cool breeze.  Instantaneous, and euphoric, the change had not been painful.

 

It had been the most potent ecstasy Eren had ever felt in his entire life.  As though he’d been waiting since the day he was born.  Like the wolf was his true form, and not the skin and bones he’d worn all this time.

 

He’d been an impostor in human flesh, a beast lying silent but desperate to be set free.

 

Everyone had been worried Eren would lose himself in the change, become aggressive and fall into the sway of the moon, but their concern had been largely misplaced.  A few staring contests, some snarling and halfhearted fighting, and the rest of the wolves yielded without much convincing.  When Mike and Eren locked eyes, the entire pack felt the draw of energy from their Alpha, but Eren’s heart wasn’t in the challenge.  He didn’t want to fight.

 

He wanted to  _ run. _

 

So they ran together, under ancient moonlight, howling their praise to the skies.  They hunted, and feasted, and ran some more, until the sun began to glow on the eastern horizon.  When the morning rays lit up the forest, the pack changed back, ready to sleep and then head towards home.

 

Eren did not.  Could not.  The wolf held onto him, unwilling to release its hold, and Eren made his way back to the pack’s settlement on four legs instead of two.

 

It was three moons before he found himself again, and once he got back his voice and his senses, Eren asked to be released from the pack bonds.  There were words on his skin, his half soul’s words, and they weren’t in Shiganti.  Nor were they written in the tongue his Alpha spoke, or any he’d ever heard before.  

 

Eren needed to find the people who spoke the language of his soulmate.  So Mike taught him about pack, and the mate bonds of wolves, and the other creatures who lurked in the dark of night.  Those who drank blood, or lurked in rivers, or the shadows of mountains.  Sang songs from the ocean to lure men into its depths.  Cried in night dark forests to bring people in close, then ate them bones and all.

 

Mike gave him knives made of silver, and a necklace with a heavy stone, both to protect against who knew what.  Another bow, and fresh clothes, and furs to keep him warm in the absence of lykos to sleep next to.  

 

Then he severed Eren’s tie to the pack, and  _ oh, _ there it was.  The pain he’d escaped upon turning, setting him alight tenfold.  It had been sweet, delicious bliss to be brought into the pack that first night.

 

It was fucking agony to be parted from them, and no one looked down on him when Mike held Eren close and wiped tears from his eyes as he shuddered through the ache.  He’d intended to set off as soon as the bonds had been broken, but Eren ended up falling asleep in Mike’s arms, too exhausted by the turmoil of losing his new family to keep his eyes open.

 

He left the next day just before dawn, forlorn from the fresh wound of a lost pack with his ears full of Mike’s warnings and promises.

 

_ You are always welcome here, even if you do not want to be pack.  There is a place for you.   _

 

But Eren couldn’t help but feel like his true place was somewhere far, far away.

 

With someone who had his words on their wrist.   Wrapped up in their warmth, breathing in their scent, and for the first time, Eren was glad he’d become a lykos.

  
Whoever his mate was, Eren would keep them safe.


	5. Words

Levi spent the entire day out of place in his own skin.  The hours dragged on endlessly, and his hands did not want to do as he told them.  He dropped bolts and smashed his fingers in between heavy parts and misplaced tools, all the while something inside him was desperate to  _ go. _

 

Get up, and run, and Levi’s body seemed to know where it would take him even as his mind drew a blank.  Work that should have taken an hour stretched out to fill the whole morning, and he knew he wasn’t imagining Pixis frowning at him in annoyance.  He was normally a fast worker, getting things done quickly and moving on.  Any other day it would have bothered him, but Levi was having a hard enough time functioning, let alone worrying about what his boss thought.

 

It was an effort to keep himself beneath the piece of shit car he was repairing when everything he did felt wrong.  He wasn’t supposed to be there.  Levi needed to be… somewhere else.  

 

Away.

 

Levi was soaked in sweat despite the low temperatures outside, and when he opened the bay doors and turned on the fans they only ever used in summer, everyone just stared at him strangely.  His jaw was tense, teeth grinding together ever since he woke up, face aching from the strain.  Levi’s eyes stung.  His hands trembled almost imperceptibly, and the air in his lungs felt acidic, and more than once he fought down the urge to scream.

 

He wanted to shower for a thousand years, or run until his legs fell from underneath him.  Work out until his muscles felt like they were on fire.  Levi never drank, _ ever, _ but in that moment he wondered if it would be worth it to down a bottle of whiskey.

 

Anything,  _ anything  _ if it would put him to sleep.  Dark and silent and far from the feeling of being an intruder within himself.  

 

It had been a long time since Levi had felt so incomplete. 

 

So broken.

 

He would have been out of work in plenty of time to go home and clean up before lunch if one of his clients hadn’t shown up five hours too early wondering why their vehicle wasn’t ready.  By the time he’d explained, repeatedly, that their car was still in pieces and therefore undrivable, Levi barely made it to the restaurant in time.  The walk downtown wasn’t far, but he’d ended up  jogging the last half mile or so.  It felt good to push himself, even if it wasn’t the run his body seemed to crave, yet every step seemed to be in the wrong direction.  Levi didn’t just need to run, he needed to run somewhere  _ else.   _ By the time he arrived at his destination, Levi fought down nausea, his entire being unsettled.  Shivery, and sore, and not for the first time that day Levi wondered if he had come down with something.

 

Now he was going to meet a relatively well known university professor while covered in sweat and grease, still wearing a red oil-stained bandana, messy hair falling out the front.  Unzipping his blue gray coveralls and letting them hang from his waist helped matters some, especially considering he no longer needed the long sleeves to protect himself from dirt and asphalt.  The black tank top he wore underneath was relatively free of stains, but a quick glance at his reflection in the restaurants shining windows revealed he was still filthy.  He’d gotten his hands washed clean, at least, but not his wrist evidently, because when he wiped sweat from his brow with his forearm it left a black streak across his cheek.  Levi cringed as a bead of sweat dripped down his collarbone and into his clothes.

 

He sighed, taking solace in the knowledge that he would likely never have to see the person he was meeting ever again, and pushed the doors open.  It wasn’t hard to pick out the individual Levi needed to find.  There was a blond in the corner, bright eyes poring over papers in front of him, a handful of books stacked up on top of his menu.  He was small, and young, and Levi was hard pressed to believe he was old enough to be a doctor of any sort, let alone a professor at a university.  He approached the booth with furrowed brows, ignoring the pointed glances he received at his unkempt appearance, and cleared his throat once he stood a few feet away.

 

“Dr. Zoe?”  The blond blinked up at him as though coming out of a daze, smiling as he set his papers down. 

 

“Yes!”   He offered his hand before withdrawing it almost immediately and frowning, but Levi got the sense it had nothing to do with his rumpled, dirty clothes or apparent lack of hygiene.  “I mean, no.  I’m Armin Arlert, one of Dr. Zoe’s colleagues.  You’re Levi?”  Levi scratched absently at the back of his head, fingers slipping beneath his bandana to further muss his hair.

 

“Ah, yeah, that’s me.  Dr. Zoe, are they not coming?  They said they’d be here.”  Armin shrugged apologetically, putting his hand out again somewhat warily, half smiling.

 

“I guess they didn’t tell you, I shouldn’t be surprised.  Hange is brilliant, but they can be a bit… eh, erratic.  They arranged for me to meet with you, said that I should see your soulmark.  They wouldn’t tell me why, only that I’d find it interesting, and told me where to be.”  

 

Levi shook his hand briefly, wincing afterwards and hoping he didn’t get grease on the kid.  He collapsed into the seat across from Armin, knees falling wide, palms on his thighs.  He always felt antsy meeting the intellectual types he thought might be able to figure out his mark.  As though they were out of his league somehow, even for professional conversation.  Levi wasn’t stupid, but he couldn’t shake the sensation that all the suit and tie sorts who he sought out looked down on him.

 

Probably because most of them did.

 

“So, you a linguist?  That why they sent you instead?”  Armin looked puzzled, shaking his head and stammering over his answer.

 

“No, I-I’m…  I’m an anthropology major.  My field of interest is a little… specific.  I’m honestly not too sure why they thought I would be of help, but it’s no use arguing with Hange once they decide something.  Can I see your mark?  If it’s not too much trouble.”

 

Levi sighed and brought his right hand forward, laying it across the table with the inside of his wrist facing up.  It was depressingly familiar, showing someone his soulmark this way.  The feeling of their fingers hovering over his skin, afraid to touch, as though they’d break the words somehow.  Their confused expressions, and Levi knew the instant they wouldn’t be of any help.  Something passed over their eyes, and they weren’t really interested anymore.  He was suddenly an unwanted homework assignment instead of a fresh curiosity, and Levi dreaded having to eat sitting across from Armin once this part was done.

 

Except Armin’s fingers closed like a vice around his wrist, and his eyes went wide, mouth falling open.  Levi wasn’t sure he was still breathing, and decided he must be when Armin leaned so close to his mark that Levi could feel warm breath panted out over his skin.

 

“Oh my god.”  Levi was overcome with a wave of dizziness, and only when he sucked in a desperate lungful of air did he realize it was him who’d been holding his breath, and not the guy across from him.

 

“What?  What is it?”  Armin didn’t answer, just kept clutching Levi’s arm with one hand, snagging one of the books with his other and paging through it frantically.  “Mr. Arlert.”  Bright eyes snapped up at him, startled, and he blinked at Levi as though he hadn’t heard anything he’d said.  “Do you know what it says?”  Armin looked like a child who’d seen snow the first time, his whole being lighting up with wonder.

 

“It’s written in  _ Shiganti _ .”  

 

Levi felt like the earth had been pulled out from beneath him.  Suddenly there was a name for the words written on his wrist, a language, and even if Levi had never heard of it, something within him was soothed.  Four years of late night Google searches, and waiting for emails from far away linguists, and studying foreign words and symbols he didn’t understand, and now Levi had a solution.  It was… anticlimactic, but Levi’s muscles relaxed a bit, air coming easier into his lungs.  Armin continued paging through his book as though he’d answered Levi’s question, when really he’d only raised a dozen more.

 

“Shiganti.  And they speak that, where?”  Now Armin was writing something down, looking from Levi’s wrist, to his book, and back again.  Translating.

 

God, Levi hoped he was translating.

 

“It’s a language that was spoken by a tribe in the Shiganshina valley of Southern Maria.  It’s one of the earliest languages that was phonetic.  Which often makes it more difficult to translate, unfortunately.  Alphabet based, as opposed to character based, though there are certain… difficulties with determining actual pronunciation of the words.”  

 

He continued scratching away at his notes, and Levi frowned.

 

“What sort of difficulties?  Can’t you just ask someone who speaks Shiganti how the words are said?”  

 

Armin pulled a face, hesitating a moment too long for Levi’s liking, and looked up from his book.  When he finally answered it was with the air of a doctor giving someone a terminal diagnosis.

 

“It’s a dead language.  It hasn’t been spoken in almost three thousand years.  So I can’t tell you what these words sound like, technically, but I can tell you what it says.”

 

A dead language.

 

Levi pulled his wrist out of Armin’s grasp, fingers tracing his mark protectively, that nausea from earlier coming back full force.  He tasted bile in the back of his throat, and Levi couldn’t remember ever feeling such crushing desolation.

 

Levi’s soulmark was written in a dead language.  Armin was still watching him, Levi could feel his stare, but he couldn’t make his mouth work.

 

No one had spoken Shiganti in nearly three thousand years.

 

He buried his face in his hands briefly, rubbing at it as though he could wipe away his utter disappointment.  As though the blackness creeping through him didn’t show in his gaze.  When he pulled his eyes back up Armin looked worried, hand hovering halfway across the table like he had reached out to touch Levi and then stopped himself.

 

“Are… you okay?”  Levi laughed, dark and sharp, and shook his head.

 

“No one speaks it?  Not even… I mean, you and the other scholars or professors studying it, no one knows what it sounds like?”  Levi held up his wrist.  ”No one is actually capable of  _ saying  _ these words?”  Armin winced, pulling his hand back and folding them into his lap.  He looked conflicted, as though fighting some internal battle, but fuck if Levi cared what it was right then.

 

“Technically… no.  It’s a very recently discovered culture.  We’ve only excavated a half dozen sites, and we’re lucky the language itself is so pervasive.  For such an ancient society, there was quite a lot of writing, with copies written in several dialects we are somewhat familiar with, and we’re able to translate a lot more than we would normally be able to with a complex  alphab-”  Levi cut him off, voice rough, as though he was trying not to cry.

 

Maybe he was.  He didn’t know anymore.

 

“What does it say?”  Armin floundered, shoving a paper at him in offering.  There was a hastily written alphabet there, individual letters clearly separated, the phrase on his wrist scrawled at the bottom with the translation in Mitrian underneath it.

 

“Roughly translated, it’s a prayer.”

 

_ ‘Gods, save me from you.’ _

 

But Levi was the one who needed saving, and he staggered to his feet with the paper balled up in his fist, murmuring out an apology. 

 

“I’m sorry, Mr. Arlert, but I’m gonna have to be going.”  Armin stood up too, gesturing frantically.

 

“Wait!  Wait, can I get a picture?  Of your mark, and of you, for… my files?  I won’t publish them anywhere public, just for my resources.  For reference purposes.”

 

Levi shrugged, helplessly, and held out his wrist in defeat.  Armin snapped a picture of it with his phone, and then one of Levi.  He was still talking, but Levi wasn’t listening anymore.

 

Levi walked away with his feet still trying to pull him in a different direction, somewhere else, lead him down another path.

 

But they couldn’t take him into the past where the words he’s grown to love had actually been spoken, and Levi fought the urge to run.

 

Fought the tears and fury, too, and made his way home.

  
  



	6. Known

Armin watched Levi’s retreat with a sinking feeling, and experienced a brief moment of terror at the thought of what he might do once he got home.  There was a reason people were put under suicide watch when they lost their soulmates, and even if Levi hadn’t exactly lost his, he might feel like he had.  It wasn’t Armin’s place to tell Levi the rest of what he knew, but as a result he’d just destroyed the man.  Told him his soulmark was written in a dead language nobody spoke, which should have been the truth.  

 

Should have been, but then again not everything in life was what it seemed, did not always go as it was meant to go. 

 

Armin had learned from the day he was born what the punishment was for telling secrets that were too important not to keep.  Watched his own kind flayed, and burned, and buried alive, all for a slip of the tongue, or a careless use of their powers in front of humans.

 

The fae had never been known for their mercy, or patience, or compassion, and even after ten years out from under their thumbs, Armin was still unlearning the things they’d taught him.  Only after Levi was was gone did Armin force down his unease at the thought of revealing Eren’s pack without permission, and realize he would not have cared.

 

That he’d make a mistake in letting Levi go.

 

It was hard to break a habit that had been etched into him with the screams of his brothers, the blood of his parents, the flesh of his kin.

 

Hard to shake off the fear of violence when he’d been literally tossed to the wolves for his family’s transgressions, wrapped in cold iron and thrown deep into Eren’s territory under the light of the full moon.  Fae often offered up their children to werewolves.  They weren’t often inclined to raise them, so they would drop them off in wolf country with a note attached, written in faerie.  In Armin’s first language it rhymed, and read like a bad joke.

 

‘ _ For food, or family, your choice.’ _

 

Not all fae young were as lucky as he was, and he still remembered the night he met Eren and his pack.

 

He’d been chained up and tied to a tree in the Marinata forest, metal burning his skin, heart ready to beat out of his chest.  Then the wolves had come, and Armin thought he was going to die.

 

_ The king of the forest will eat you alive,  _ the king of the fae had said, but looking back later Armin realized he had to have known better.  Had to have chosen which pack of wolves carefully, made sure Armin was well within their path, that the timing was right so he didn’t die of iron poisoning.

 

Eren and Jean had shifted into their human forms and untied him.  Asked him what he could do, and Armin summoned a ball of light in his palms, because that was all he had so far.  Just… light, and nothing else.

 

_ “Hey, we got another Flashlight!” _

 

_ “Jean, you know that’s a slur now.” _

 

_ “We used to call them Candles, nobody gave a shit.” _

 

_ “That was a slur then, too.” _

 

_ “Really?  No one ever said anything.” _

 

_ “It was the sixteen hundreds, and you were a fucking werewolf whose care they’d been entrusted into, what were they gonna say?” _

 

_ “Christsakes, Luminare then.  You mean I’ve been using a racist term to refer to Nanaba for four hundred years and she hasn’t said anything?  No one has said anything?  In four goddamned centuries?” _

 

Armin had started laughing maniacally then, and they’d wrapped up their run and taken him home.  Treated his burns, and tucked him into bed between Eren and Jean, and raised him as one of their own. There were a solid dozen fae under Eren’s protection, all of them abandoned as children.  Plus two coyote shifters, a handful of owls, a siren, two vampires, and a djinn.  That he could think of, anyway.

 

And that wasn’t even taking into account all the creatures who called their territory in the woods home.

 

Armin still lived with wolves, though not from Eren’s pack.  He’d moved for college, and been taken in by one of Eren’s Alpha friends who ran the pack near his school.  When Hange had asked him to come back to town on business he’d jumped at the chance to catch up with Eren and the others.  He had been planning on waiting until tomorrow before contacting them, after they’d run out the moonlust.  He hadn’t planned on meeting Eren’s soulmate, though.

 

Ten years, and none of the wolves Armin knew had ever hurt him, or been cruel.

 

They weren’t going to start now.  Especially not for something like telling Levi that his fucking  _ soulmate  _ existed.  Abuse was hard to shake off, but Armin felt weak for letting it own him that way.  Eren had been waiting for so long, and Armin had just fucked up, big time.

 

He ran outside the restaurant, ready to call Levi back and explain even if he sounded like a lunatic, but once he made it outside the guy was nowhere to be seen.  Armin pulled out his phone and tapped away at the screen before putting it to his ear.  He listened to it ring, and when it went straight to voicemail he swore vehemently.  Armin rarely left messages, no one listened to their voicemail anymore, but he made an exception this time.

 

“Eren, you need to call me back.  I know what tonight is, I know you’re busy, but there are… more important things you need to take care of.  Call me.  I’m serious.”

 

He hung up, texting Eren a few times only to get no reply.  It was always next to impossible to get ahold of him so close to a full moon, but Armin had to try.

 

_ Fuck it, _ he thought, sending another text, this one with two images.  One of Levi’s wrist, words sprawling across it in Shiganti.  Another of Levi himself, brows furrowed and face twisted with suppressed emotion, but even to someone who wasn’t his soulmate, Levi was still striking.

 

_ Found someone you’ve been looking for,  _ Armin wrote, sending Levi’s phone number along with the image.

 

Armin waited, and waited, and waited, but Eren never replied.  He packed up his stuff and started dialing numbers, trying to get in touch with any of the wolves in Eren’s pack, but none of them picked up.  Werewolves tended to shun technology and crowds and cities when they could, the closer it got to the full moon.  

 

So Armin called a cab, and rattled off an address, and crossed his fingers.

 

But no one was home, and Armin felt small, and tried not to cry.


	7. Time

 

Over fifteen hundred years.  It was over fifteen hundred years before the words on Eren’s wrist were anything but pretty gibberish.  He traveled the world, sometimes on two feet, sometimes four, but always fighting against things he’d never seen, things he'd only heard of in passing from Mike before he left.  Turns out everywhere was less friendly once that Eren knew there were creatures like him in the dark.  Other lykos he came across wanted to fight him, or force him into their pack, not understanding his desire to roam.  Eren didn’t know the language in his skin wouldn’t exist for centuries to come, didn’t know he was searching for something that wasn’t yet there.  Someone who wouldn't be alive for millennia.

 

So he fought down rogue wolves, and refused pack bonds, and declined offers to make him Alpha.  He used his silver knives more than he would have liked when the sun set, cutting down nosphoros after his blood, which was apparently irresistible to their kind.  Eren ran from beautiful women who crept out of rivers, the chunk of jade Mike had given him pulsing in his pocket, their voices ringing out beautiful and lilting and deadly.  He went to sleep beneath sprawling trees, only to wake up in clearings surrounded by people with pointed ears and curious eyes and teeth that were sharper than they should have been.  Eren ignored voices that called to him from dark woods, and after awhile avoided deserts for reasons other than the heat and desolation.  

 

He’d met the things that lived in those shifting sands more than once, and he wasn’t eager to do so again.

 

When the moon came he transformed and ran and howled, alone but still reveling in moonsong.  Different lands passed him by, different peoples, different places, and yet he never found the words he was looking for.  It was easy to be hopeful at first, but years later, decades, centuries, and Eren felt it slipping away.

 

What good was having a soulmate if he never got to see them?  What use was a soulmark if he never heard the words?

 

The whole world shifted around him, morphing and growing into something new, and Eren grew with it.  Learned new languages, and dressed in different clothing.  Obeyed new social customs, ate new foods, heard new music.  He’d seen everywhere there was to see, but by the time he returned to places he’d been before they were almost unrecognizable.  Time changed them.

 

Changed him, too.  Drained him, and sobered him.  When he finally decided to head back to the place he’d once called home, there was nothing left but ruins.  Eren dug up remnants of his people, all that there was to be found, anyway.  Broken pots and arrowheads.

 

Bones, and stone, and dust.  

 

What was the point of eternity if Eren had to spend it alone?

 

When he finally learned the black marks on his wrist had meaning, Mitrian had been spoken for hundreds of years.  He just hadn’t been around to hear it.  Eren had shifted into his wolf one night under the moon and never turned back, leaving his knives behind in favor of his teeth, his clothes in favor of his fur.

 

Leaving his humanity behind in favor of  the animal he’d become.  It was exhausting to be a person sometimes, and life was easier when there weren’t words on his skin taunting him with his solitude every time he opened his eyes.  He drank from rivers, and hunted down prey, and eventually the thoughts in his head faded away into simplicity.  There were no sleepless nights staring at the sky, no hiding what he was from curious eyes, no struggling to survive.

 

There was hunger, and thirst, and the earth under his paws.  The woods were home as much as any hut or tent or cave had ever been, and the ache in his chest only flared up on the loneliest of nights.  

 

When the stars were too bright and the wind was too still and the darkness pressed in on him like a shroud.  

 

Eren might have spent the rest of his life as a wolf, had he not run into Jean and the others.  He scented them long before he saw them, but there was none of the unease that usually crept up in him when confronted with so many of his own kind.  When Jean padded out of the trees in front of Eren that night, his fur too many shades of brown all mixed together, eyes keen but wary, Eren felt something within himself he hadn’t felt in a long time.

 

Kinship.  Like he belonged with them, even though they’d never met.

 

It was not only Jean, but a handful of wolves behind him.  All of them lykos as he was, and Eren could sense how fractured they were even without speaking to them.  It wasn’t a full moon, and yet they were all turned, retreating into their fur just as he was.  Hiding from the world, or from themselves, it was all the same.  Too many wolves for them to be rogues, an obvious pack, but no Alpha among them.  Eren could sense the bonds between them, the strain.  The weight of the pack without a leader to lean on, all of them either unwilling or unable to take over.

 

He ran with them until the next moon, and with its light shining down on them, they bared their throats to Eren.  Asking with words they didn’t posses in lykan mouths, _ please. _

 

_ Lead us. _

 

And for the first time in centuries, when the sun rose on them all, Eren shifted back into his skin.  It hurt, and standing on two legs was bizarre, but the blood of his new pack tasted sweet in his mouth, drugging him on the essence of his brothers.  The binding soothed his ears, and even if his voice sounded wrecked, Eren said the words.

 

_ Blood of my blood, moon in my night, I am bound. _

 

Suddenly his whole world shivered, and he could feel the wolves in front of him running through his veins.  Their names, their identities.  Their relief at having an Alpha, their weariness, their individual emotions.

 

He could feel them pulling at his energy, at his inner wolf, and lykos within him was eager to give himself up, bring them together.  To make them strong.

 

To make them whole.

 

Once the drugging ecstasy of the bonding faded away they came back to themselves on the forest floor, piled up in a heap, limbs tangled together.  It had been over a millenia and half since Eren had been part of a pack.

 

He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed it, until he had it again.  Jean’s face was buried in his hair, and Annie’s hands clutched at his ankle, and Eren absently stroked warm fingers through Eld’s tangled blond locks.  Then Jean lifted his right wrist, tilting it until Eren’s mark showed in the faint moonlight.

 

“You speak Old Stonish?”  Jean asked him, in the same tongue he inquired about, and Eren nodded even if he hadn’t known there was anything ‘old’ about the Stonish he spoke.  The blond tapped his mark, meeting his gaze, both their eyes glowing with the aftereffects of the pack bond.  Eren’s lighting up ethereal green, Jean’s shining gold bright.  “You need to learn Mitrian, then.”

 

And so he did.

 

His wrist.

It said,  _ ‘Please.’ _

 


	8. Grievance

 

The shower Levi took when he got home was hot enough to make his skin throb, but still not enough to wash away the sick feeling that seemed anchored in his lungs.  He couldn’t quite breathe, couldn’t quite think, couldn’t quite stand straight.  

 

Though to be fair the last couple of things probably had something to do with the mostly empty wine bottle on the bathroom sink.

 

Levi never drank, but it was all he could think of to numb himself.  Even so, he still couldn’t manage to come home with the bottle of whiskey he’d picked up initially.  The phantom smell of it was in his nose, and then there was the memory of pain in his ribs, the ghost of a black eye, a flash of bloody knuckles.  

 

When he wobbled out of the shower in nothing but boxers, bottle upturned in his mouth, Farlan was standing in the hallway wide eyed.

 

“Levi, what the fuck?”

 

Shit.  He’d thought Farlan was already gone to work.  Levi blinked stupidly at him, wine trickling down his chin, and shrugged as he wiped at his mouth.

 

“What the fuck what?”  Farlan threw a significant glance at the wine, then at Levi, asking an obvious question without words.  Levi barked out a rough laugh, and Farlan cringed and pulled back at the sound, looking even more concerned.  “Oh!  Right, I found out about my soulmark today.  Did you know it’s written in a dead language?  Because it is.”

 

Levi weaved around Farlan, careful not to shove by, not to bump shoulders, not to touch.  He was drunk, and upset, but the last thing he wanted to do was take it out on his friend.  He ended up sitting on their bed, draining the last of his wine, fighting the urge to fling the bottle at the wall in frustration.  He was better than that, even if he wasn't good enough to have left the alcohol alone entirely.  Levi set it down gingerly beside his feet, looking back up to see Farlan there.

 

“A dead language?”  Levi smiled, and there must have been something dark in the expression, because Farlan grimaced at the sight.

 

“No one’s spoken it in  _ millenia.  _  So, that’s great, right?  Spent years trying to figure out what the fuck it says.  Now I know, and it’s totally useless.  Least I can stop looking, yeah?  Go to a bar and try to get laid.  What’s it like to want someone like that, Farlan?  I never have, and I thought, it’s okay, it’s normal, I’ll feel it when I meet my soulmate, but that’s never gonna happen right?  Because I don’t actually have one, really.”

 

Only when Farlan tucked Levi’s face against his chest did he realize he was crying.  He could feel the tears soaking into the thin cotton of Farlan’s shirt, and Levi didn’t fight the sob that bubbled out of him.  Farlan’s fingers threaded through his wet hair, gentle and warm, and Levi shuddered into him.

 

“I thought I wouldn’t always be alone.  After I got it, everything was a little easier, you know?”  It came out soft, and weak, a whisper muffled by Farlan’s clothes.

 

“You’re not alone.  You’ll never be alone.  You have me and Izzy, and we love you.  I know it’s not exactly the same, but we do.”

 

Levi nodded, still hitching out quiet little sobs, hating himself with every one.  Farlan tugged him down on the bed, pulling their blankets up over him, and Levi curled into him without hesitation.  The hands rubbing circles on his back were soothing, and he felt his eyes growing heavy, exhaustion and grief and alcohol all conspiring to put him to sleep.

 

“I gotta go to work later, I can’t miss today, but Isabel will be home a couple hours after that.  Okay?  Don’t go anywhere.  Just wait for her, I’ll try and see if she can come back early.”

 

“S’fine.  I’m fine.”

 

Farlan huffed out a sigh, because Levi was far from fine, but he didn’t argue the point.  Just stroked Levi’s hair and back until he went still, breathing going deep and even and restful.

 

Then he stayed there, long past the moment Levi drifted off, something sharp living in his chest.

 

……………..

  
  


When Levi woke up he was alone, his room dark, no light shining through his windows or creeping under his door.  It was disorienting in the way only accidental naps can be, body still ten steps behind and half asleep.  His head throbbed, and as he sat up it got worse, pressure increasing behind his eyes until he winced.  Isabel wasn’t home, he knew without looking, because he would have heard her singing, or watching television, or clattering around in the kitchen.  The house was never quite so silent when she was there, and the solitude of it pressed in on him until it was hard to breathe.  But more than that Levi felt…

 

Hot.  Achy.  In his bones, and his muscles.  His heart was beating too fast, and his hands trembled, and Levi wondered if he was having a panic attack.  He’d never had one before, and he couldn’t be sure, but something inside whispered _ no. _

 

_ This isn’t panic. _

 

Something was  _ pulling  _ him, ropes tied to the blood in his veins and the air in his lungs, drawing him somewhere else.  He wasn’t sure where, or why he wanted to get there so badly.

 

Only that he felt like he would die if he didn’t _run._  He’d burn himself alive until there was nothing left, nothing remaining of what he’d once been but ashes and smoke.  Levi had fallen asleep empty and woken up overflowing, energy shuddering and hissing just beneath his skin.  Some far away part of his brain was whispering, _‘There is something wrong_ _with me,’_ but another part railed against it.

 

_ ‘No, everything is as it should be, all is well.’ _

 

_ ‘Just go.’ _

 

Levi had a pair of jeans pulled on before he could stop himself, going through the motions like a sleepwalker.  He watched himself dress as though observing another person doing it, buttoning his pants, donning a black hoodie with nothing underneath.  Levi didn’t put on shoes, only half zipped his sweatshirt, but none of that seemed important.

 

He walked out the door without closing it and started running, not watching where he was going with his eyes but _feeling_ it instead.  The asphalt stung on his bare feet, but Levi didn’t stay on the roads long.  He was vaulting over fences, and trailing through backyards, heading towards his destination as the crow flies.  A straight line, only veering from his path to avoid houses or cars or trees.  Levi earned himself a few angry honks when he crossed a busy highway without looking, but it was like listening to noise from deep underwater.

 

A few hours later and his feet were bleeding.  His hands too, cut open on sharp rocks and rough brush and rusty fences, but Levi didn’t spare them a thought.  He was fatigued, had been running and climbing and pushing himself faster, faster, faster, but he didn’t slow down.  Wouldn’t.  Every breath was painful, like drawing hot coals into himself, and he felt dizzy with the need to rest, but Levi couldn’t make himself stop.

 

Eventually a dark forest stretched out in front of him, alive with moonlight, wind whispering soft in the trees.  On an intellectual level, buried beneath the heat and electricity that owned Levi in that moment, he knew it was the outskirts of Marinata National Forest.  There were trails people could hike, and campsites for them to set up in, hills and overlooks with breathtaking views.  Tours could be taken to see the beautiful streams and little waterfalls and hidden ponds buried in quiet corners of the woods.  He’d been here before with Isabel and Farlan, trying to escape their daily grind, but Levi didn’t look for a familiar trail or try to figure out exactly where he was at on the edges of the massive forest looming ahead.

 

He took off his hoodie, tossing it carelessly to the ground, unable to bear warmth or the feeling of it on his skin for another second.  

 

Then he ran into the trees, trying to stay in the rays of moonlight for some reason he couldn’t quite understand.

 

Levi thought he heard music, soft and unearthly, somewhere just out of earshot.  

 

It was beautiful.

  
He ran faster.


	9. Found

Eren and his pack roved for centuries before finally laying claim to a sprawling expanse of forest in the newborn nation of Mitria.  He’d learned the language, and traveled, and searched for his other half, but time was merciless and unending.  Days and months and years dragged on together until it all became meaningless, the only thing grounding him in reality the constant pull of the full moon.  He wasn’t alone, he had his pack, and they were relentlessly affectionate as pack bonded wolves tended to be, even those who weren’t exceptionally fond of each other.  There was always someone sleeping at his back when he was feeling down, someone’s hand on his shoulder, someone’s furry nose shoving into his palm. 

 

It both was and was not enough, and Eren wasn’t sure exactly when it happened, but he gave up.  Maybe his soulmate was out there, somewhere, but he couldn’t make himself keep looking.

 

Eren died a little every time he went out full of hope and came home alone, without his mate.

 

There wasn’t enough of him left to keep searching, not anymore.

 

They built cabins in the woods, and kept their numbers down, only accepting new members when wolves sought them out in need of protection, or asylum from whatever supernatural entity might be after them.  No nosphoros dared to set foot in Eren’s territory, and the dark fae that would prey on his people were quickly eliminated or exiled.  Eren picked up stray fae children with alarming frequency, not to mention the other random assortment of creatures who found themselves assimilated into his pack.  Or the dozens and dozens who preferred the wilderness of their territory.

 

Only those who would live peacefully were allowed to dwell in the lands his pack called their own, and very few rose up to challenge that order.

 

Eviscerating entire covens of nosphoros with his teeth and tearing apart rogue wolves lost to moonsong in front of their packs had a way of making other creatures wary.

 

Mankind whittled away at the edges of nature, invading territories of beings they didn’t even know existed as society changed rapidly around them, and things grew increasingly crowded in the forest.  There were more shapeshifters lurking in the trees, more earth spirits hiding amongst the leaves, more nymphs residing in the waters.  Eren didn’t mind.

 

He couldn’t blame them for wanting to survive.  And if they wanted, they could run with his kin under the moon.  No one batted an eye.

 

When new packs of wolves began trespassing in his pack’s home, he didn’t lead with his teeth but with his words.  He laid down boundaries, explained the rules, and expected them to be obeyed.

 

_ This is where my pack runs, this is where they hunt, do not intrude.  You cannot prey on the innocent, you cannot attack those who call this forest home.  You keep our secrets, and those of the others who live here. _

 

_ You do not turn a human without consent. _

 

For the most part, there weren’t that many issues.  The occasional wolf was lost to moonsong, or bloodlust, as some of the newer lykos called it.  Every now and then an Alpha stepped up to try and challenge Eren for leadership of his pack.

 

They limped away defeated, or never rose again, depending on how far they decided to push things.  Hundreds of years, and it was a well known fact among the wolves and shifters and fae alike.

 

One did not come out victorious against Eren, or trespass in the Marinata forest.

 

Now the pack slept in separate houses dotted around the city, instead of clustered together in the woods, though usually not alone.   Even those that were unmated tended to have another wolf staying with them.  Or a fae, or shifter, or vampire.  Jean and Eren shared a home, the pack’s common residence, and his wolves were always welcome there.  They shared a bed, too, their newest pack member piled in between them, still unused to the wildly fluctuating emotions that came with the lykos inside her.

 

Sasha was sweet, and noisy, but constantly hungry.  A voracious appetite on a freshly turned wolf was not a good thing, no matter how easygoing their demeanor, and it was a lesson Jean and Eren had learned well long ago.

 

They had cell phones to talk to each other, but Eren still preferred to reach within himself to check in with his pack.  He’d close his eyes, and think of his wolves, and there they were in his mind’s eye, telling him more than words over a phone ever could.  Were they hurt, were they stressed, were they upset?  Were they tired, were they sick?  They knew when Eren was with them in that way, when he was a light inside their thoughts, a weight in their chests.

 

They relaxed into the presence of their Alpha more often than not, used to his unrelenting worry.  Their Alpha was  strong, their pack was strong.  If they were struggling there was always a place to stay, food to eat, people to help.

 

They were safe, and it wasn’t something they took for granted.  This lunar cycle felt different, somehow.

 

The moon was so full in the sky that everyone was aware of it all day, as they always were.  Even so, long before the sun went down, Eren felt _ wrong. _

 

They’d recently pushed a hostile pack out of the southern edge of their territory, mostly for the safety of the humans who lived there.  Eren and his wolves had never made their monthly run so far south, the woods they’d long ago claimed now a protected national forest.  Still, even if they hadn’t hunted there under the moon, the trees were familiar.  The terrain, the creeks, the hills, the valleys.  Eren knew the land there like the back of his hand.

 

The new location didn’t explain the way he wanted to bare his teeth at the other members of his pack who’d arrived early for the hunt.  It didn’t explain why his hands were curled into fists, nails digging into his palms, all of him restless with the need for violence.  

 

He was sweating, despite being dressed in nothing but a pair of workout shorts, barefoot with the chill of winter all around.  Only when he felt a shudder of unease from his pack did he realize he was growling, and still he failed to bite back the sound.

 

Eren wanted to start running.  He did not feel that ever present urge to shift that was always there on the full moon, just a subtle unease, like he was forgetting something important.  They weren’t all that deep in the forest, only a few miles, but he didn’t want to go deeper.

 

His feet wanted to carry him out, towards the edge of the trees, towards…

 

Somewhere.  Something.  Eren wasn’t sure what.

 

When Jean showed up he approached Eren with furrowed brows, and the Alpha startled at the green glow playing over Jean’s features.  His eyes were lit up with emotion, most of his wolves hanging back, giving him more space than they normally would.  Annie stood nearby with her arms crossed watching Eren carefully, Reiner and Bertholdt already in their animal forms, sitting dutifully at her feet.  Sasha had shifted, too, but she seemed oblivious to the undertones of the situation, bounding around the others exuberantly.

 

Jean stared at him for a few moments sniffing the air, but Annie spoke before he had a chance, stealing the words from his mouth.

 

“He’s in rut.  Hasn’t seemed to figure it out yet.”  Eren growled louder in response, and only Jean’s hand splayed out over his chest kept him from stalking over to Annie and forcing her to lower her eyes.

 

“I’m not in _ rut.   _ I don’t have a mate.”  Annie looked at him like he was stupid, shrugging.

 

“I didn’t either, and I went into rut.   Ran fifteen miles before I found them both in rut, too.”  Her eyes cut briefly down at her two mates, before settling on the Alpha again.  “Sometimes the mating happens first.  Sometimes the rut does.  Where do you feel like running, Eren?  Because if I were you…  I’d just go.  Jean can lead the pack this time.  Even if he is slow as fuck.”  

 

Jean bared his teeth at her in disagreement, but Eren wasn’t really paying attention to their sniping anymore.  He turned away from the pack, eyes roving out towards the edge of the forest, two parts of himself raging against one another.

 

His humanity, or what was left of it, kept his feet firmly rooted to the ground.  Unwilling to seek out what he’d convinced himself he’d never find.

 

Unwilling to fail again.  Unwilling to come back to his pack without someone by his side.  If he ran through the woods, ran towards whatever was calling to his wolf, and found nothing but trees and darkness and moonlight?

 

Eren couldn’t even imagine the ache.

 

It would gut him, as so many things had tried and failed to gut him over the years.

 

But there wasn’t much man left inside the beast he’d been for so long, and the lykos within Eren did not leave room for argument.  

 

_ Go, run, your mate is close. _

 

Someone was coming.  A human, crashing through the trees.  If he'd only been listening instead of snarling, Eren would have heard him from miles away.

 

Then Eren scented the faintest trace of blood on the wind that blew over his face and no force on heaven or earth could have held him back.

 

Eren ran.

 

Fast, and hard, but he didn’t make it very far.  A few hundred yards.  Still in sight of the pack,  if just barely, their keen eyes watching him through the trees.  

 

There was a man running towards him, eyes wild, shirtless and barefooted in filthy jeans.  His hair looked impossibly black, and somehow Eren knew it wasn’t the darkness playing tricks on him.  He was gasping like he’d run for miles, and bleeding from more than one place on his body.  Red stained both his feet, as though he’d stepped through a pool of blood.  It was streaked across his chest, from a stray branch slicing him open, maybe.  One of his palms was wet with it, and as soon as he came close enough, Eren could smell a dozen different things on him.

 

The copper of his wounds, the faint trace of wine, the thin sheen of sweat that covered his chest.  The salt of dried tears, and he stopped processing the scents after that, because  _ no, _ his mate had been  _ crying, _ that wasn’t  _ allowed- _

 

Eren froze, catching up with his train of thoughts, and then inhaling the one thing that overpowered all the rest.

 

He wasn’t in his wolf form, but he could still howl, and it was a fight to keep the sound from bursting free.  Because Eren’s lykos did not make mistakes, not when it came to his instincts.

 

This was his mate.  Stumbling to a stop a few steps away from him, heaving out ragged breaths, looking at Eren with something like wonder.   

 

Eren’s face was probably even worse, starry eyed and adoring and pathetically love struck.

 

Because  _ goddess, _ his mate was  _ beautiful. _

 

Eren was thousands of years old, and every day of it was swelling in his chest, and evaporating like smoke.

 

They both moved forward slowly, and when Eren was finally close enough, nothing could have stopped him from from reaching out to touch.  He trembled at that first fleeting brush of skin, and then his fingertips danced over fine cheekbones, and stroked strands of wet black hair out of shining gray eyes.  Eren’s fingers found his lips and lingered there, feeling how soft they were, biting his own to keep from savaging this stranger’s mouth.  This _young_ stranger, fuck, he couldn't have been more than twenty or so. 

With his other hand Eren cupped his mate’s cheek, and he leaned into the touch, gasping warm breath over Eren’s palm.  Inhaled sharply, and whimpered out a word, voice beautiful even working around a whine.

 

_ “Please…” _

 

The word on his wrist heated up as it was spoken, and Eren didn’t know what his mate was asking for, but he realized it did not matter.  He would do it.  Would lie, would steal, would kill.  There was nothing this man could ask of him, no order he could give, that Eren would not obey.

 

He’d waited so fucking long.

 

His mate  _ owned  _ him.  All his life, all that he was claimed in an instant, and ancient words that had not passed his lips in ages surged up unbidden.

 

“Gods, save me from you.”

 

But it was a lie.  A hollow prayer whispered to long lost gods that Eren had never quite understood, even when he was laying out their offerings and dancing to their drums and getting their sacred symbols inked into his flesh.  A rote answer spoken to ward off ghosts and demons, hushed words meant for beings that had always been unreal.

 

There had been times in his life that Eren had called out to them in earnest, afraid of death even though he’d cheated it for so long already.

 

In that moment Eren did not want to be saved.

 

If this creature before him would take him, then Eren wanted to be consumed.


	10. Howl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mind the tags.

Levi couldn’t breathe.  Not the way he wanted to, lungs working to suck in air, palms trembling where they hung at his sides.  He’d finally stopped running, everything that had been pushing him forward singing with victory, with triumph.  Telling Levi he’d arrived, though he hadn’t reached any particular place.

 

He’d reached a particular person though, and that seemed much better, really.

 

Levi heard a lone howl from somewhere not too far off in the trees, but it seemed insignificant compared to what was in front of him.  A man with glowing green eyes that should have been troubling, but weren’t.  Smooth, tanned skin, and muscles Levi suddenly wanted to bite into.  Messy brown hair, and a full bottom lip, and fuck if he didn’t have to swallow around the sudden rush of moisture in his mouth.

 

Levi would be so damn embarrassed later if he started drooling in front his soulmate.  And that’s who it was, who it had to be, the person he’d found himself in front of.  There was no denying the sense of rightness he felt down in his bones, the sense of belonging.  Then the man was right there, reaching out to Levi with sure hands.  Touching Levi’s face, his hair.  His palm was warm on Levi’s cheek, and his eyes seemed to shine brighter.  He traced Levi’s lips lovingly, expression going hungry, like he wanted nothing more than to kiss Levi right there in the forest.  

 

Levi wanted it, too.  He’d waited long enough, months, years, and he wasn’t ashamed to beg.  

 

Couldn’t be, not with those eyes on his mouth, those hands on his skin.

 

_ “Please…” _

 

The man’s brows furrowed, and he made a noise low in his throat, something between a growl and a moan.  He spoke, and the words were unfamiliar to Levi, but he knew what they meant all the same when warmth pulsed hot in his soulmark.

 

_ Gods, save me from you. _

 

Except he didn’t look as though he needed saving from anything, let alone Levi.  Levi lifted his wrist until his mark was near the man’s face, a silent offering, black symbols lit up in moonlight.  His soulmate saw it, exhaling roughly, one hand circling Levi’s wrist to trace the words with his fingers.  He lifted it to his lips and kissed it, eyes locked on Levi’s, and that wasn’t fair.

 

He wanted that kiss on his mouth, and he surged forward to take it.  It wasn’t as simple as stepping in closer, though.  Levi lifted up onto his toes, ignoring the pain that lanced through them when he did so, his hands splaying out over the brunet’s chest, yet he still couldn’t quite reach what he was after.  One of his palms slipped up the man’s throat, sinking into his hair.  Trying to tug him down, but he didn’t seem to understand Levi’s intentions, leaning into the touch with a groan instead.

 

Levi growled in frustration, throwing himself into his soulmate’s arms and trusting that he would be caught.  He wrapped his legs around the brunet’s waist, arms coiling behind his head, and strong hands came up to grip his thighs as he climbed the man like a tree.  Rough fingers bit into his flesh even through his jeans, clutching and kneading, and Levi was finally close enough. He could feel hot breath on his skin, could see little flecks of gold in those bright glowing eyes, could make out the barest trace of a flush on those tanned cheeks.

 

He leaned forward and brought their mouths together, and something was mended inside of him that he hadn’t known was broken.

 

Levi had never been kissed.  Not like this.  Isabel kissed him on the cheek a lot, but people with soulmarks didn’t usually look for casual partners.  Those without marks didn’t want to waste their time, and anyone who hit on the marked tended to be after a one night stand.  Levi had never been interested in any of that, which wasn’t really unusual for someone with a mark.  He got horny sometimes, but it wasn’t ever because of a specific person.  It just… happened, a biological function that needed to be addressed and nothing more.

 

Nothing like the fire that was burning in his stomach, or the thing that was fluttering in his chest, alive and shifting and ready to explode.  Levi opened his lips, their tongues spilling against each other, and he swallowed down a moan that wasn’t his own.  The kiss had too much teeth, was too wet, but all the empty places inside of Levi were full now, setting him alight.

 

A hand slid up his back, and he couldn’t even find it in himself to be ashamed of the way he rutted  into his soulmate’s stomach, hard and overeager.  He didn’t know this guy’s name, where he was from, who he was.

 

_ What  _ he was, because those eyes were inhuman, but Levi didn’t care.  The fear he should probably be feeling wasn’t registering through his need.  He was safe.  He wanted more.  Wanted to lay down on his back in the leaves and the dirt, feel the brunet’s weight on him. Wanted to kick off his clothes, and spread his thighs.  Wanted to feel this man all over him, possessing him.  

 

Let his soulmate put him on his knees, press Levi’s face into ground. 

 

Tug his hips into the air and _ \-   _

 

Something was itching in his throat, and Levi realized that more than any of that…

 

He wanted to be bitten.  Levi needed those bright white teeth he was currently tracing with his tongue buried in his neck.  Needed like he needed air in his lungs, or blood in his veins.

 

Levi needed this man’s bite to keep on breathing, the want suddenly suffocating him, making him hurt somewhere down below his heart.  He pulled back from their kiss, grinning when his soulmate tried to follow, pressing his fingers into the brunet’s mouth to trace over his canines briefly.

 

“Bite me.”  It was an exhale more than words, but it was enough, and Levi craned his neck to expose his throat further.  Those bright eyes went wide, and his mate began stuttering.

 

“N-no, not now, we need to… to t-talk first, and then-”  Levi leaned forward to nuzzle his neck, breathing in his earthy scent, mouthing at the skin.  “Can’t… can’t bite you, yet, I need to tell you about…”  He trailed off into a whine as Levi gently scraped sharp teeth against his jugular, whispering into the flesh.

 

“Don’t you want to bite me?”  Levi knew he did, somehow.  Knew it more certainly than he’d ever known anything.

 

_ “Yes,”  _ he hissed, like the very idea of not wanting such a thing was blasphemous. __ “Of course I do, I just- I  _ can’t, _ I-”  He licked a stripe over his soulmate’s pulse point, delighting in the shudder it earned him.

 

“Don’t you want me to bite you, too?”  Levi didn’t have to ask.  Knew the answer already, even if he didn’t know why,  was already opening his mouth in anticipation.

 

“Gods,  _ yes _ , please.”

 

Levi sank his teeth into the brunet’s throat, biting down until he tasted blood, listening to the man spew out a stream of foreign words.  He didn’t need to speak the language to know it was rush of curses and filth.  It was written in the tone, in the breathiness, in the way the hands on his ass and his spine were suddenly clutching desperately.  That single bite wasn’t enough to satisfy the thing growing within Levi, not even with the coppery taste in his mouth, crimson liquid dripping over his lips.  He released his jaw and bit down again, a little lower, a little harder.  Again, and again, until there were a smattering of gory imprints of Levi’s teeth in that smooth skin, red streaks oozing from the bites.   His mate fell to his knees with an obscene moan, trembling against Levi, whispering now in that unfamiliar lilting tongue.

 

Levi was being worshipped with those words.  Even without understanding, he could feel the praise washing over him with every hushed syllable.  There were fingers in his hair, and a mouth painting soft kisses into his cheek, and despite the absence of the bite he craved in his throat some of the frenzy he’d been feeling fell back.

 

When let his jaw go slack and eased back to look at the damage he’d done, Levi should have been horrified.  The brunet’s throat was a fucking mess.  Like it had been savaged by an animal, and Levi waited to feel guilty at the sight of what he’d done.

 

Instead there was a voice coiling through his head, smug and pleased and possessive, saying,  _ yes, good. _

 

_ Now everyone will see. _

 

Levi licked some of the blood on his lips, shivering violently at the taste, almost missing the soft words in his ear.

 

“What’s your name, little mate?”  His eyes closed in bliss, and he let all of his weight collapse against the man holding him, loose and boneless and satiated.

 

“Levi.”  A kiss in his hair, at his temple, and then they were standing up again, Levi still held tight in his arms.

 

“Levi.  My name is Eren.  Let me introduce you to my pack, and then I’ll take you home.”

 

He hummed, smiling drunkenly, and nodded into Eren’s chest.

 

Home sounded nice.  They should go home.


	11. Blood

  

Eren turned back towards where his pack lingered in the distance, resisting the urge to spirit Levi away to his house.  They hadn’t started the run yet, waiting to see what was going on with their Alpha, and there was something Eren wanted to do as soon as possible.  Something necessary, considering what he was and the sort of beings he’d made enemies of over the course of the past few thousand years.  He forced himself forward, Levi shoving into him like a kitten starving for attention, and it was no surprise.

 

He’d marked Eren as his mate like a wolf would, instincts roaring up even if he hadn’t been turned yet, and now in the aftermath he was drugged and hazy.  Eren’s throat stung viciously, and he couldn’t help but smile, because in all his thousands of years of life, he’d rarely seen anyone mark their mate so aggressively.

 

The more brutal the mark, the more intense the bite, the more pleased someone’s inner lykos was with it.  To be marked so violently was a badge of honor, a physical reminder of their mates loyalty and desire.

 

To be marked so violently by someone who wasn’t yet lykos was unheard of.  It probably had something to do with just how long he’d been waiting for his soulmate to appear, but Eren wasn’t entirely sure.

 

Now there was blood all over his mate’s face, leaking down Eren’s chest, the scent of it thick in the air and he felt pride swell up in him.  His wolves were watching closely as he approached, those in their animal forms taking a few instinctive steps back.

 

A newly mated wolf could be a volatile thing, and getting too near one’s mate without invitation was unwise.  Jean and Annie were staring, a smirk on both their faces, until Eren was close enough that they could see the teeth marks in his throat.

 

Then they just looked surprised, eying Levi with curiosity, and maybe a little amusement at the way he was nosing into Eren shamelessly.  Eren nudged Levi’s head with his own, drawing his gaze, and when fuzzy half lidded eyes met his he smiled adoringly.

 

“I know your feet are hurt, but can you stand for me?  Just for a minute.  I want you to meet my wolves.”  

 

Levi nodded as though there wasn’t anything strange about that request.  Like Eren having wolves was normal, and there was nothing usual about ‘introducing him to the pack’.  Eren's blood in his mouth was to blame, or thank, for that.  When the drugging effects of the marking had worn off, Levi would be full of questions.  In that moment he was sated and willing, eager to please, and he weaved in place slightly when Eren eased him to ground, turning to face the group of men and wolves in front of them.  Eren glanced over at him, trailing his fingers through some of the blood that dripped from the shallow cut in Levi’s chest.  He then mixed it with some of his own, holding his hand out towards his pack in offering.  There were muted sniffing sounds as the wolves inhaled the scent, those in their human forms breathing in deep, too.  Memorizing the way Levi smelled, like a normal person might memorize a name or a phone number.  The color of someone's hair, the sound of their voice.

 

“This is Levi.”   _ He’s my mate.   _ It went unspoken, because Eren didn’t need to say it.  The teeth marks in his throat and twining of their scents spoke louder than words could, even if Eren hadn’t marked Levi in return yet to complete the ritual.  Eren took his gory fingers and drew a bright red line over his heart.  The words, the gesture, they weren’t completely necessary, but they helped direct the energy, made it easier to wield.  “He is not a wolf, but by my blood, he’s ours.”

 

Pack magic shivered through the air, and a dozen howls split open the night.  Loud, and celebratory, reveling in their Alpha's joy.  They could feel it through the bonds, new strength surging into them, Eren’s happiness overwhelming him to flow into the rest of his pack.

 

After tying Levi to them with blood magic, even though he was not a lykos, all of Eren’s wolves would be able to tell where he was, whether or not he was in danger.  There were others who had the same binding on them, all the fae and shifters and various supernaturals under their protection, but none tied so tightly to the pack as Levi.  Eren could feel the threads of magic stringing his mate to the rest of the lykos there, invisible but unbreakable, and something that had been vibrating within him settled down.

 

Levi had never been safer in his entire life than he was in that moment, with thirty-odd werewolves ready to tear anything that looked at him wrong into a thousand pieces.  They all knew how long Eren had been waiting for his mate.  Now Levi was there in front of them, and he might not have belonged to them the same way he belonged with Eren, but there was still a sense of ownership there.  A sense of duty.

 

Eren had protected all of them.  For months, for years.  For centuries, in some cases, standing between them and anything that wanted to cause them harm.  He could feel the determination thrumming through the pack, the wordless declaration, a silent vow.

 

_ He will be kept safe. _

 

Once the magic of the binding faded back Jean stepped forward, tilting his head towards Levi, who was leaning into Eren’s side.  Sliding his arms around Eren’s waist, curling up into his chest.  Seeking contact, and affection, and it would get worse before it got better.

 

“We’ll run without you.  Take him home and take care of those cuts on his feet.  Sasha and me will be back after.”  There was an unmistakable order there.  A _voice._  Eren could feel it brushing against him like a soft breeze, and spoken to an Alpha in another pack it might not have gone over well.

 

But this was Eren, and Jean, and neither had any taste for pointless dominance and baseless hostility.

 

They were far too old for such things.  They’d known each other too long, and danced all those steps too many times before to be anything but weary of them.  They slept with their faces shoved into one another’s skin for too many years, could fight their enemies without even looking at each other, could all but read the other’s thoughts.  So Eren didn’t bristle at the command, didn’t even blink.

 

Just scooped Levi up into his arms, his mate’s legs going around his waist automatically, Levi’s bloody face rubbing at the fresh bites on Eren’s throat.

 

Eren started walking towards the edge of the forest, his pack howling again behind him, the rush of glee tingling through the bonds.

 

He climbed in his truck without bothering to disentangle Levi.  There was no point in trying to maneuver him away, and Eren didn’t want to anyway.  Not after waiting so long.

 

He adjusted his seat, moving it backwards until there was enough room for him to steer, and started driving.

 

………………………………………

 

Levi had made Eren’s life beautifully miserable the entire way home, kissing the teeth marks he’d left in Eren’s neck, palms running up and down his chest.  When Levi got too handsy and Eren had to stop him, lest they crash into a fucking tree, he made the most pitiful whining noises in the back of his throat.  They made Eren hurt, and he wanted to pull over and just let Levi do anything he wished, but the scent of blood from Levi’s injuries steeled his resolve.  

 

Along with the fact that once he regained his senses, Levi would probably be horrified at his behavior.  The farther Eren allowed things to go, the more dangerous it was, considering Levi’s current state.  His want for Eren, his desire, were all genuine, since the pull of the marking couldn’t create emotions that were not there.  

 

His willingness to express those things so wantonly, however, was heavily influenced by the fresh bites in Eren’s throat, and the magic still clinging to Levi like a shroud.  So when Levi tried to reach into Eren’s clothes, or grind furiously against his hips, mouth wet and demanding at Eren’s skin, he held him back.  Shushed the mewling cries of protest that spilled from his lips, whispered low assurances.

 

_ ‘Shhh, just wait, let’s get you home.  It’s okay, you’re doing so good Levi, just a little longer.’ _

 

He did not seem convinced by Eren’s words, but eventually gave up and collapsed into his chest, desperate for every inch of contact.

 

Levi finally came back to himself after they arrived at Eren’s house.  He’d brought him inside, setting Levi down on his bathroom counter and putting his ravaged feet in the sink, a pillow propped up behind him so he could lean against the wall comfortably.  He laid there almost comatose, quiet and still, staring at Eren through half lidded eyes as he removed Levi’s dirty jeans, leaving him in nothing but boxers.  Eren washed the filth and dried blood from Levi’s soles, cringing at all the cuts and scrapes there, wondering just how far he’d run before they found each other.  After he disinfected them he smoothed antibiotic ointment over the injuries, smiling when Levi jerked and fought down giggles at the touch.

 

His mate was _ ticklish,  _ gods, Eren was _ fucked. _

 

He was wrapping one of Levi’s feet in gauze when he heard a sharp inhale and looked up to find wide gray eyes staring at him in horror.  Levi lifted a hand to his mouth, dragging it down his face, and Eren winced.  

 

“Oh my fucking god.”  Eren waited to see what particular thing Levi was going to fixate on first, because there were so many to choose from.

 

_ Where are we, you’re not human, what did you do to me… _

 

Or maybe, _ ‘I tried to fuck you on the way over here, Jesus Christ.’ _

 

Then tentative fingers traced over the bites on his throat, and Eren leaned into the touch, a satisfied rumbling pouring out of his chest.

 

“Oh my god, I fucking  _ mauled  _ you.”  Or there was always that.  Eren smiled at Levi, and he couldn’t stop it from being smug and pleased and fond. 

 

“Yes, you did.”  He finished taping Levi's foot up, holding his gaze as he pressed a chaste kiss to his toes before standing.  Levi covered his face with both hands, groaning into them, mumbling to himself from behind his fingers as everything rushed back to him.

 

“I jumped you without even getting your name, and then I asked you to  _ bite  _ me, and then I tore your throat open.  With my teeth.”  

 

Eren grabbed a clean towel from the stack he’d brought with him and moved Levi’s feet out of the sink so he could wet it with warm water.  

 

“That last part is a bit of an exaggeration.  And you sort of had to jump, all things considered.”  Levi peeked through the gaps in his fingers to glare at Eren before dropping them entirely.

 

“Did you just-”

 

“Make a short joke, yes.”  Levi huffed indignantly as Eren began wiping at the streaks of dried blood on his chest.  Eren heard a pained noise, and glanced up to see Levi looking at himself in the mirror.  For the first time since they’d reached the bathroom, if his wrinkled nose and general disgust were anything to go by.

 

“I look like a cannibal, fuck’s sake.  Give me another towel or something.”  Levi reached for one, but Eren stopped him, pausing in his ministrations and biting his lip as he watched Levi’s face for a moment.  Hesitating.  Did he really want to do this, right then?

 

Something twisted pleasantly in Eren's chest, and he decided yes, he did.

 

“Wait.  Can I, uh… take a picture of you, first?”  Levi shot him a  _ look, _ one eyebrow cocked up.

 

“Like this?  Are you serious?  I look ridiculous.”  Eren shrugged, itching to go get his phone before Levi cleaned the mess from his face.

 

Before he cleaned _Eren's blood_ from his face.

 

“As I'm sure you've noticed, I’m not exactly a normal guy.  You were out of it, but you couldn’t have missed the literal pack of werewolves out there in the forest.  I don’t have the same reservations about blood and gore as most people do.  Considering _why_ you look the way you do, that it's from a mating bite you gave me…  It’s pretty fucking attractive to me, personally.  You marked me like a lykos would.  It’s hard to think straight looking at you right now.”   Levi frowned.

 

“A ‘lykos’?” 

 

Eren braced himself.  Lykos who had human soulmates usually didn’t have much trouble from them, once they finally met their other half.  They tended to take everything in stride, accepting the impossible without too much convincing and then asking to be turned themselves, almost without fail.  Still, Eren couldn’t help but be a little nervous.  He hadn’t exactly had the best of luck with his soulmate so far.

 

Three thousand years of searching had made him wary.

 

“Lykos.  A werewolf.  You met the rest of my pack.  Do you remember?”  He could see the memories falling back into place, Levi’s brow furrowing, mind working over the information.

 

“You’re a werewolf,” Levi deadpanned, and Eren nodded in answer.   Then he looked at his wrist, something like awareness dawning over his face, and lifted it to show Eren his soulmark.  “You speak Shiganti.”  It was a statement, but Eren nodded again anyway, though it did beg the question of how exactly Levi knew the name of his mother tongue.  “You’re three thousand goddamned years old.”  It sounded worse in Levi's voice.

 

Twenty-odd years to several millennia.  

 

“Ehh, three thousand four hundred or so, give or take a few centuries.  I’m not exactly positive.  I was in my wolf form for a few hundred years there, and time passes differently as an animal, so I can’t be totally sure.”  

 

Levi didn’t say anything.  Just stared, probably overwhelmed, too much information to process at once.  Found your soulmate, who happens to be a werewolf, who happens to be older than dirt.  

 

So of course Eren threw some more at him, because fuck it, go big or go home.  

 

“The bite you gave me is a mating bite.  It’s why you were so…. uhhh... hazy, there, for awhile.  Lykos magic is some heavy shit.  When a human has a lykos for a soulmate, wolf magic tends to creep through the bond, and it throws them into a rut, among other things.  It's what led you to me.  You’re still in rut, probably, though it’s faded back now that you marked me.  It’s why you bit me, why you wanted me to bite you.  Mark you.  Your instincts are telling you that you need to be turned, and solidify the mate bond.  It’s the lykos version of soulmates, though if someone doesn’t have a soulmark they choose their own mates.”  Levi looked almost sad, rubbing at his throat, something like longing on his face.

 

“So why didn’t you?  Bite me, I mean.”  Eren laid his palm over Levi’s cheek, thumb sliding over his bottom lip.

 

“Because once I do, there’s always the chance you’ll be lykos, and there’s no going back.  We don’t turn anyone without their consent.  Not even our mates.”  Levi leaned hard into Eren’s touch, eyes falling closed with a sigh.

 

“Does it hurt?”

 

“The pairing bite, no, not really.  The mate bond falling into place feels too good for you to notice the pain of the mark.  Or at least that’s what I’ve heard, and it definitely didn’t hurt when you marked me.  Being a lykos in general can hurt.  To be turned, the bite usually has to be something that would be fatal to a human.  Not always, especially with human soulmates, which is why I couldn’t bite you but usually…  Throat torn out, disembowelment.  Nowadays we tend to use the femoral artery, because it’s less invasive.  You’re reborn a wolf, your heart stops, you…”  Eren hesitated, hating the words he was speaking.  “You die, first.  And the shift isn’t always easy for everyone.  For some wolves it hurts at first, when you turn wolf, when you turn back.  And then there’s the fact that you’re practically immortal.  Which doesn’t seem like something painful.  But it can be, sometimes.  If someone lives long enough.”

 

He couldn’t help the hint of sadness that lingered in his voice at the end, traces of pain he’d put to bed long ago filtering into the words.  It wasn’t lost on Levi, and whether that was him being naturally perceptive, or the half formed mate bond, Eren didn’t know.

 

“You’ve been around a really long time,” Levi said, and he reached out to brush the hair out of Eren’s eyes.  Eren wasn’t sure how to respond.  It didn’t feel as though he had the right to complain about living so long, when so many others didn’t get the chance at even one lifetime.  

 

His own awareness of how lucky he was didn’t make it any easier to be alone all those years.  To watch empires rise and fall, cultures vanish from history.  To see places he’d once lived reduced to ruins.

 

Nothing more than a few pages in a history book, a few dozen web sites, all his memories condensed into some pottery shards and wall etchings by an academic who’d often never even stepped foot on the lands he studied.  

 

But now, across the world from where he’d started, after searching for an eternity, his mate was there.  Levi had literally run into his arms.

 

Eren shrugged, and smiled, standing as still as he could so he wouldn’t accidentally shake off Levi’s hand on his face.

  
“I have been around for a long, long time.  And it hurt.  But it was worth it."


	12. Ghost

“So, you gonna let me take a picture of you, or…?”  

 

Levi blinked, as though he’d forgotten the request altogether.  Then he nodded, still not quite back to normal, and Eren stroked one hand through his hair before padding down the hall to his room to get his phone.  It was flashing wildly, lighting up with notifications that he couldn’t be bothered to read right then.  Missed calls, text messages, voicemails.  

 

Nothing from any apps.  Eren wasn’t crazy about social media.  It felt superfluous, when he could simply reach through the pack bonds and check on everyone he cared about.  His wolves were all okay.  None of the other supernaturals tied to Eren’s pack were in any danger.  Someone was… anxious, especially so.  One of the fae.  He couldn’t be bothered to sort out who right then.  They were an anxious lot by nature as it was.  They probably felt themselves being bonded to a human through the pack magic and wondered why.  Eren could explain later.

 

Much later.

 

He opened his camera, and headed back into the bathroom.  He didn’t ask Levi to smile, but a small grin played over his mouth anyway as Eren clicked the screen.  Once, twice.  Three times.  Enough all in quick succession that his phone automatically put them together in a stuttering little video.

 

Bloody faced and stunning.  Eren could barely breathe.  The wolf in him had never been this pleased.

 

Then he noticed Levi was shivering, goosebumps crawling over his arms, hands rubbing up and down them in an attempt to warm himself.  It wasn’t a normal reaction to werewolf magic.  Lykos energy ran hot, not cold, and Levi was looking around the room, skittish, like he’d seen a ghost.

 

Which he hadn’t, but not because there wasn’t one there.  It had just taken Eren a moment to notice.  He was a bit distracted by his soulmate's sudden appearance after several millennia of searching, in his defense.  Marco was crouched on the closed lid of the toilet, phantasmal and half formed, looking at Levi with open curiosity.  Eren sighed, drawing Levi’s gaze, but not taking his eyes off their resident specter.

 

Normally he and Marco got along just fine, but Levi had already been put through a lot that evening, and Eren dreaded having to have yet another awkward conversation when he hadn’t even finished with the first yet.

 

“Could you either manifest enough that he can see you, or go away?  You’re freaking him out.  He can feel you there.”

 

“Excuse me?”  Levi asked incredulously, and Eren couldn’t blame him.  

 

For all intents and purposes, it seemed like Eren was talking to the toilet.

 

“He isn’t one of yours?”  Marco inquired, leaning in closer to Levi.  Lykos could sense ghosts without much of a struggle, even the weak manifestation Marco was mustering right then, barely a presence at all.  Levi couldn’t see him, but the wolf magic still all over him made him unconsciously aware of Marco’s presence.  His heart beat faster in his chest, Marco making him  instinctively afraid.  Eren could hear it pounding, fearful and unsure, and he really didn’t like that.

 

Eren growled without meaning to, but didn’t bite it back when he caught himself.  He was allowed to feel protective.  It was the least he could do for his instincts, a mantra running loudly through his head,  _ mate-pack-wolf-moon,  _ until he was surprised he could speak at all.

 

“Yes, he is one of mine.  He’s my soulmate, and he doesn’t have the sight but he did mark me, and we bonded him to the pack tonight, so he feels you there.  Poof in, poof out, make a choice.  One or the other.”  

 

“Eren?”  Levi sounded wary, worried.

 

Afraid his soulmate was a fucking lunatic, perhaps.  Which he sort of was, depending on how archaic one wanted to get with the definition.

 

Marco looked at Eren with one eyebrow cocked up.

 

“Aren’t we testy today.”

 

Eren growled louder.

 

Marco shimmered into being, not quite corporeal but as close as he could get without possessing someone, and Levi’s head snapped over to him.  He tried to scramble backwards, only to be met with the wall behind him, and Eren stepped in close.  Hands up, nonthreatening, attempting to keep him from freaking out more.

 

“Hey, it’s fine, it’s okay.  This is Marco.  He’s uhh….  Well, he’s a ghost.  He lives here.  Sort of.”  Levi’s eyes darted between Marco and Eren, heart starting to calm.  Marco smiled, and Eren had to admit that for a ghost, he was mostly nonthreatening.  No gory death wounds, no creepy old anachronistic clothes, no black haunted eyes.

 

A little hipster, maybe, with the stupid sweater he’d been wearing the day he died, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.  Marco was making an argumentative noise, mouth twisted in disapproval.  

 

“My ring is my anchor.  I live there, not here.  Technically.”  Eren rolled his eyes.  

 

“Can we not do this right now?”  

 

“I’m just stating a fact.  You make it sound like I have a room in the basement or something and it’s not that simple.”  Eren looked at Levi, reaching out to tangle their fingers together, expression pleading and apologetic.

 

“I’m sorry for this.  You’ve had a crazy night, and now Casper the pretentious ghost over here shows up, and-”

 

“HEY!” Marco cried, offended, but Levi interrupted him, lifting his free hand up to stop him.  He looked tired, and Eren clutched his other hand tighter and fought the urge to pick him up and carry him off somewhere.  Except there wasn’t anywhere for him to go.

 

There were ghosts and monsters and shapeshifters everywhere.  Levi was mated to one, for fuck’s sake.  All he could do was try to ease him into it as slowly as possible.

 

It wasn’t working out very well so far.  Levi’s voice was strained, and Eren felt helpless.

 

“Yeah, no.  I’m sorry.  I have dealt with a lot of shit today, and I cannot process this right now.  I’m gonna need you to poltergeist yourself out of here if that’s okay.”  

 

Marco looked scandalized, a hand pressed to his chest as his mouth fell open, glancing at Eren in horror.

 

“I am not a  _ poltergeist.”   _

 

Eren briefly contemplated exorcising Marco.  Surely he’d be better off laid to rest for good.  Eren pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh.

 

“Marco,  _ please.   _ If you could just back off for a bit, I would really appreciate it.  It’s been… an eventful moon, already.”  Marco threw an indignant look at Levi, pointing at himself.

 

“I am not a poltergeist.  I am a ghost.  Not a phantom, not a spirit, not an apparition.  A ghost.”

 

Eren wasn’t sure a ghost could de-manifest indignantly, but Marco certainly tried.  Levi was staring at the place he’d been, brows furrowed, head cocked to the side.

 

“Did I just…  _ Offend  _ a ghost?”  Eren shrugged.

 

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it.  He’s dead, how relevant can his opinion really be?”

 

A door slammed down the hall.  Eren huffed out another sigh.  

 

Levi looked like he was about to fall asleep on the bathroom counter, bloody and wearing nothing but boxers, his feet wrapped in gauze.  Anxiety rolled off him in waves, shoulders tight, fingers gripping Eren’s viciously tight.  Eren knelt on the floor, putting himself in a submissive position.  It was instinctive, habitual.  A gesture that would sooth a nervous wolf, but just made Levi frown, and Eren chided himself internally.

 

Levi was not a wolf.

 

“What do you want to do?  You’re welcome to stay here.  Shower if you’d like, borrow some clothes, eat something if you want.  You can sleep in my bed, either with me or by yourself.  Or I can take you home, if you need to go, but-”  Levi sucked in a gasping breath, throwing his legs over the side of the counter, almost kicking Eren in the face in the process.

 

“Fuck.  FUCK!”  Levi patted at his upper thighs, like he was trying to feel for pockets he didn’t have.

 

“Levi?”  Levi stood abruptly, wincing as he put pressure on his injured feet.  Still he managed a few awkward, hobbling steps down the hall, pausing in the middle like he wasn’t sure where he was going.  He turned back towards Eren, scratching at his wild hair.

 

“My friends are probably freaking out right now.  I was drunk earlier, and upset, and then I just took off without saying anything before they got home.  I left my phone, shit, I think I left the front door open.  I don’t even know Farlan or Isabel’s phone numbers, they’re just programmed into my contacts.  They probably called the police by now, they, they… shit, they’re probably losing their minds.  I gotta go, I gotta-”

 

Eren probably should have hesitated to touch Levi.  He didn’t really know anything about him, didn’t know how he responded to physical comfort and affection, what hang ups he might have when he wasn’t lost in blood magic.

 

But his mate reeked of guilt, and nerves, and stress.  And Eren was tactile, and responsible for the emotional well being of dozens of equally tactile creatures.  Wolves liked touch.   It was calming, reassuring.  Touch meant you weren’t alone, your pack was there.  Touch was safety, and support.

 

So he was touching Levi before he really thought about it, palm brushing over his throat, thumb tracing the edge of his jaw, bending down to better meet his eyes.

 

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Eren interrupted, and Levi leaned into his hand, still radiating panic.  “You said you left your phone, call yourself from mine.  Maybe they’ll answer?  You can tell them you’re okay.”  Levi puffed out his cheeks, exhaling slowly.  Took a few long moments to process the idea, but didn’t seem any calmer.

 

“Yeah.  Yeah, but I don’t… I just…  what do I tell them?” 

 

Eren shrugged, one hand slipping around the back of Levi’s neck, the other reaching out to cling to his hip.  

 

“That you found your soulmate?”  Levi made an unhappy sound, pressing his face into Eren’s chest, his arms wrapping around Eren’s waist.

 

“In the woods?  After hours of running, with no shoes?  With his pack of werewolves?  I don't know anything about you, I can't answer any of the questions they're going to ask me.”

 

“Hmmm.  That is a series of long, complicated conversations to traverse in the middle of the night.”  

 

Levi nodded against him, heavier and heavier with each passing moment, exhausted in the wake of the pack magic.  Like adrenaline that had run its course, leaving him empty and worn.  Eren knew the feeling too well, had fought himself into exhaustion or overexerted the pack's energies until he was dead on his feet or unconscious.  

 

There weren’t any ideal, immediate solutions to the issues at hand.  Eren was already itching to call a healer to fix Levi’s feet, but having a witch or fae of some sort magic away his wounds would definitely be more stressful right then.  Levi needed to wash his face, put on some clean clothes, and sleep off the lingering aftereffects of the magic.  Sooner, rather than later.  But Eren knew what it was like to have people worry over him.  Maybe Levi wasn’t a wolf, but Eren could feel him through the pack bonds, could feel the ties to his friends there when he focused hard enough.

 

Strong.  Not really friends.  Family.  A brother, a sister.  Love, loyalty, protect, worry, guilt guilt  _ guilt guilt- _

 

Eren pulled himself out of Levi’s emotions by force, blinking away the second-hand feelings of remorse and hugging him tighter.  He ran a palm up Levi’s spine, and then regretted it.  It was distracting, warm skin under his hand, a muscled back, flexing with each breath.  

 

Touching his packmates was nothing like this.  Eren took a steadying breath, nosing into Levi’s hair.

 

“How would your friends feel if you brought home a dog?”

 

There was a pause, thick with uncertainty.

 

“A dog?”  Eren smiled, grateful Levi couldn’t see it, because it was self satisfied and amused and had far too many teeth in it.

 

“A really, really big dog.”


	13. Strain

Calling Eren’s wolf form ‘a really big dog’ was a bit of an understatement.  

 

Like referring to a dragon as a ‘large reptile’.  

 

Which made Levi wonder if dragons were real.  If they could really breathe fire, if they had wings, if they hoarded treasure, and he shoved the thoughts down, because he couldn’t go down that road right then.

 

Especially since they probably  _ were  _ real.  

 

Like werewolves.  And ghosts.  Fuck.

 

_ Fuck. _

 

He’d washed his face in Eren’s sink in a daze.  Then his throat, and his hands, and his arms.  Finally he sighed and let Eren unwrap his feet so he could go ahead and take a shower instead of cleaning himself in the sink like a homeless person.  

 

Afterwards he rewrapped his wounds in gauze and put on the clothes Eren had left out for him, a shirt that hung down to his thighs, collar falling off one shoulder, the fabric swallowing him.  Boxers that barely hung onto his hips, and it probably should have been weird to wear someone else’s underwear, but Levi found he wasn’t really bothered.  The pants were pajamas, and even after Levi pulled the drawstring tight and rolled the waistband over on itself a few times the legs still puddled around his feet.  He felt ridiculous.

 

Until he left the bathroom, and Eren saw him.  Levi had never been looked at that way before.  Eren had been watching him with blatant adoration on his face ever since Levi had come out of his haziness enough to notice, but this was different.

 

There was heat in his eyes, want, and Levi didn’t really understand why.  Until he realized, the clothes.

 

He was wearing Eren’s clothes.  A deliberate choice on Eren’s part, when Levi thought about it.

 

It was obvious several other people lived in Eren’s house.  The size was an indication all its own, couches sprawled out over an enormous living room, a bathroom bigger than Levi’s kitchen, numerous doors left open to reveal messy bedrooms.

 

Were all werewolves slobs?

 

There were also pairs of shoes in different sizes in a rack by the door, jackets thrown over the backs of chairs and left in the floor.  Six people or so, one of them probably female.  Most of them not as big as Eren, judging by the trappings they left behind.

 

There were clothes somewhere in the house that would fit Levi better than Eren’s did, at any rate.  Yet there he was, walking on the bottoms of plaid sweatpants and tugging the collar of a t-shirt up over his shoulder in a vain attempt to get it to stay in place.  

 

And Eren watched, teeth sunk into his bottom lip, eyes lit up unearthly green.  Levi pulled the loose shirt away from his body, one eyebrow cocked up in mock accusation.

 

“Nobody wears a small?”  Eren shrugged one shoulder, totally unapologetic, smirking around the lip he gnawed on.  

 

“Yeah, but then you’d smell like them, and this way you smell like me.”  

 

Levi furrowed his brows, lifting the shirt to his nose and breathing in, wondering if Eren had dug dirty clothes from the hamper for him.  It smelled like laundry detergent.  Nothing strong, just the barely there hint of soap, the unscented kind of stuff for people with allergies, maybe.  Eren laughed at him, and Levi shot him a glare.  

 

Eren laid a finger alongside his nose.  

 

“We pick up a lot more than you can.  Trust me, you smell like me.  Detergent can’t wash someone’s scent out of something they wear a lot, and those clothes have seen better days.”  Eren looked pleased.  It was a good look on him, eyes still glowing bright, teeth white behind his lips, standing straight with his shoulders squared.

 

He looked like he’d won something, when all he had was Levi.

 

Levi tried not to think about how long three thousand years was.  Tried not to wonder how he was going to stand up to the weight of it, when Eren had waited for millennia for his soulmate.  He’d been alone for so long, it was hard for Levi to wrap his head around it.  

 

Levi didn’t see how he was worth it.  

 

He’d grown up in a shitty trailer, dropped out of high school, lived with his two friends in a house that was falling down around them.  Fixed cars for just enough cash to get by, shared a bed with his roommate because they couldn’t afford a bigger place.  

 

Eren’s house was a goddamned palace compared to his own.  

 

He’d waited three thousand years for a wreck of a soulmate.  Oil stained with busted knuckles and the ghosts of bruises etched under his skin, Levi felt a little bit like crying.  Something inside him was shaking, and he closed his eyes for a moment, trying to still it.

 

Levi weaved on his feet, and Eren reached out to steady him, warmth seeping into Levi’s skin where they touched.

 

Flowing into him, down through his body, settling heavy in his blood and his heart and his lungs.  It was soothing, and it tasted like honey, and he knew with some faraway part of his brain that this was something Eren was doing to calm him down, but couldn’t find the words to ask what or how or why.

 

“Where is your house, love?  Let’s get you there.  I’ll drive you, and we can pull over a couple blocks away and park.  I’ll shift, and walk you home.  Then you can sleep all this magic off, and we can talk in the morning.”  Levi leaned into Eren’s hand, then took a stumbling step forward into his chest.

 

“You’ll stay though, right?  With me?  To sleep?  I mean, I sleep with my friend, so you’ll probably be sleeping with both of us.  Wait, that sounded wrong.  We share a bed.  We don’t  _ sleep  _ together.  I mean, we do, literally, but we don’t fuck, or anything, it’s not like that.  Farlan steals the fucking covers, that asshole, but he’s warm.  You’ll stay anyway?”  Levi’s eyes fluttered shut again as he rambled, words slurred and barely coherent, and suddenly his feet didn’t hurt as much anymore.

 

Eren had picked him up.  Pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead.

 

“It’s adorable that you think I could possibly leave you anytime soon.  I dunno how big your bed is, but if it’s too small, you can use me as a pillow.”  Something jingled.  Keys, maybe.  A door slammed, an engine whirred.  Levi’s entire existence was made of faraway sounds and the steady beating of Eren’s heart against his cheek.  “Now where do you live?  In town?”  Levi mumbled out his address, and Eren made an unhappy noise in the back of his throat and kissed his temple.  “I’m sorry you had to run so far to find me.  Sleep for awhile.  I'll wake you when we get there.”

 

Levi opened his mouth to answer and yawned instead, Eren’s heartbeat soothing him, and then he was asleep.

 

For a moment.

 

It felt like a handful of seconds, but they were down the road from Levi’s house, Eren waking him up soft and easy.  A palm on his cheek, fingers in his hair, a voice in his ear,  _ Levi, Levi, Levi. _

 

_ Precious, sweetheart, darling. _

 

“Little mate, wake up.”

 

Levi startled, going from sleepy to wide awake all at once and sitting up so fast Eren had to lean back to keep from getting headbutted.  He’d been dozing against Eren’s chest, which looked wet in the dim illumination of the streetlight they were parked next to, and Levi lifted his hand to his lips to affirm that yes, he’d been drooling on him.  He wiped at his mouth, and then Eren’s skin, flushing hot in embarrassment. 

 

“I’m sorry, I fell asleep pretty hard, I…”  Levi trailed off, afraid if he got started he’d keep going and not be able to stop.

 

_ I drool in my sleep. _

 

_ My sheets all have holes in them. _

 

_ My roof leaks if it rains hard enough, the breakers flip if you look at them wrong, our hot water heater is going out.  There are mice living in the bottom cabinets in the kitchen, and Farlan won’t let us poison them.  I duct tape my dryer closed so it will stay on.  I start the washing machine with a pair of pliers because the knob fell off.  We- _

 

Eren stroked through his hair, and there it was again, warmth like honey in his mouth, until he was… not euphoric, exactly, but close.  All those feelings of inadequacy were still there, but in the background, like a radio left on that no one was listening to.  Levi closed his eyes, and let the heat roll through him, trying to hear what it was saying in words almost too quiet.

 

_ Safe, safe, safe. _

 

The energy coiling through him told him everything was fine, because he was safe.

 

_ Yes, safe.  He has you. _

 

Levi didn’t need to ask to know  _ he  _ was.

 

“You’re doing this, right?  This warm… syrupy thing?  Tastes sweet, makes me feel high, but not in a bad way?”  Eren hummed, shutting off the truck and opening the door.  

 

“Mmm.  Yeah, that’s me.  Pack magic.  I can feel you… stressing, and I don’t exactly know why, since it could be a lot of different things, most of them my fault.  You’ve had a rough night.  I was trying to help.  Seems like it hits you harder than my wolves, though.  Been a long time since I used it on a straight up human.  Want me to stop?”  Levi shook his head.

 

“Nnnn-nnnnn.  S’nice.”  

 

It  _ was  _ nice.  Like a pause button for all his problems, and Levi figured he deserved a break right then.  He was so tired.  Eren maneuvered them both out of the truck, closing the door behind them and walking over to a patch of grass bursting through a gap in the sidewalk before easing Levi to his feet.  Eren continued, hands lingering on Levi’s arms.

 

“Plus, your roommates will probably think you’re drunk, which will make them more likely to let you sleep than ask a bunch of questions.”

 

Levi stood, shaky for a moment before he steadied himself, that  _ warm-sweet-safe-happy  _ feeling ebbing back as Eren held onto his elbow to keep him from swaying.  After a few long moments Levi looked up to find Eren staring, chewing on his lip again.  

 

“Would you mind if I kissed you goodnight?  While I still have the mouth for it?”  

 

He looked so uncertain, like he wasn’t sure if Levi would let him or not, and something within him shivered with need.  Levi reached up and let one of his hands tangle in Eren’s hair, tugging him down.  Their mouths met, gentle and barely there, easy and hesitant and questioning compared to their kiss from before.  Levi parted his lips, licking at Eren’s until they opened for him, tongues spilling together.  Languid, and needy, and Levi was pressing up against Eren without meaning to, fingers going tight in his hair, his free hand running mindlessly over Eren’s skin.

 

Levi wanted Eren to lay him down right where they were.  Take off his clothes, kiss him, suck him off.  Touch him and taste him and hold him down.  Sink between his thighs.  Bite him,  _ bite him, bite him- _

 

Eren broke the kiss, breathing harder than he should have been, blinking through the eerie glow of his eyes.

 

“Easy.  N-Not…  Not too much, with the magic still on you like that.  We gotta…  gotta get you home.”  Levi whined, and only realized he’d done so when Eren cupped his cheek, thumb trailing over his mouth.  “Shhh, it’s okay, we have all the time in the world.  Right now you need rest, though.”  

 

Levi nodded, blinking up at him, fighting through the wash of exhaustion that was bearing down on him.  Eren was right, he was dead on his feet.

 

“I’m gonna shift, and then we’ll go to your place, and see how much of a fit your friends throw when you have a big ass dog with you.  Which one’s yours?”  Levi pointed to one of the duplexes a few blocks down, wondering why Eren was asking again.  He looked serious, suddenly, and Levi frowned.  “Okay, I’m totally in control of myself when I shift.  I’m not dangerous, not to you or your friends or anyone who isn’t a threat to me and mine.  But if you feel the need to run away from me, run home, okay?  Can you do that?”

 

Why would he run away?  

 

It seemed like a stupid thing to do, but Levi nodded anyway, and Eren started undressing.  He was already shirtless, and he slid his belt out of his pants and unbuttoned them.  They began to slip down, revealing a thatch of dark hair low on Eren’s belly, the jut of his hipbones-

 

Levi flushed hot and started to turn away, but Eren stopped him with a gentle hand on his bicep.

 

“Uhhh…  You don’t… have to watch, but I thought you might want to see me change.  Nudity isn’t really an inherently sexual thing for a lykos.  There’s a lot of naked going on in a pack of wolves, and none of it has ever been sexy, if I’m being honest.  If it makes you uncomfortable there’s no pressure, but I’ve had people tell me it’s easier to accept if they watch it happen.”  

 

Eren stood there, half naked, belt refastened and… hanging around his neck, with something silver dangling from a strip of leather?

 

Why were there dog tags on his belt?

 

But Eren was waiting on an answer, and Levi shrugged, unsure if watching or not watching really made any difference.  Part of him was still leagues behind and refusing to believe any of this was really happening.

 

Werewolves weren’t fucking real, were they?

 

“Okay.”

 

Eren looked pleased, shedding his jeans and boxers and tossing them both into the back of his truck.  Levi had followed the fabric with his eyes instinctively, and when he looked back there was Eren, naked and tan and beautiful and wow that was… a dick, wasn’t it, and a  _ lot  _ of one, and Levi was staring, wasn’t he, and he had a dick, of course, but it wasn’t  _ like that,  _ and-

 

Eren laughed, low and fond, and when Levi managed to look up at his face again he was smiling.  A fresh blush painted Levi’s cheeks, and he fought the urge to cover his face with his hands and peek at Eren through his fingers.  If Eren was bothered he didn’t show it, rolling his neck and shaking out his arms as though he was about to fight, or run.  The belt around his neck wasn’t as big as it had been around his waist, but it was close.  

 

It took Levi longer than it should have to figure out that it was supposed to be a collar.

 

“You can tell your friends as much or as little about me as you want.  You ready?”

 

Not really.  He shrugged.

 

“Yeah.  Sure.  Why not.”  Eren cast him a worried glance, but didn’t press.

 

“All right.  I shift really fast, especially on the full moon, so don’t blink.”

 

Levi didn’t, but he still almost missed the change entirely.  One moment Eren was standing there, naked in the stuttering light from the streetlamp, and the next, he wasn’t.

 

Or he was, but on four legs instead of two.  ‘A really, really big dog’ was not, in any way, an adequate description.

 

Levi laughed.  He couldn’t help it.

 

Eren was sitting, his tags hanging down on his throat, tail held perfectly still like a well trained pet fresh out of obedience school.  Except that he was clearly a wildly overgrown wolf, at least twice as big as a normal one could ever hope to be, with vicious looking teeth, strange green eyes, and thick, reddish brown fur with hints of copper in it.  His coat was darker across his back, lighter tones spreading out over his chest and legs and belly.  Black nose, a light colored muzzle that went dark around his eyes.  His ears perked up high, tongue lolling out of his mouth as he panted.  His head came up to Levi’s shoulders, easily, and if he stood on his back legs, Eren would tower over him.  Levi doubted he’d be able to loop his arms around Eren’s body.  His neck, maybe.

 

Eren whined, front feet lifting up and down in turn, like he was getting restless.  

 

Or, Levi realized, like he was worried.  Worried that Levi would flip out, or bolt, or be terrified.  Which, in all fairness, he probably should have been when confronted with an ancient supernatural being capable of eviscerating him with little more than a thought.  One who he barely knew, who he had only met a few hours prior.  Who could work magic, and make Levi liquid and pliant with the smallest push in his mind.  A rational person would have been afraid.

 

Levi wasn’t.

 

It could have been the magic, or the simple fact that they were soulmates, but Levi couldn’t stop grinning.

 

He took a few steps forward, and wrapped his arms around Eren’s neck, burying his face in the soft fur there.  Levi sank his fingers into Eren’s thick coat, smiling stupidly wider when he felt one of Eren’s front legs come up and curl around Levi’s calf, awkwardly hugging him back.  His tail was wagging furiously now, and it was cuter than it should be on a gigantic werecreature.  There wasn’t a smell, not like Levi had expected.  Not like a dog.

 

Eren still smelled just as he had before, and Levi breathed it in, leaning harder on him.

 

“Fuck’s sake you’re huge.”  

 

Eren huffed out a quiet noise, not quite a bark, and Levi took it as an affirmation.  Huge didn’t even scratch the surface.  Levi could probably put a saddle on him and ride him like a fucking horse.

 

Which led his thoughts places they didn’t need to go, to all the different ways Eren could be ridden, and Levi hid his face deeper in Eren’s fur and hoped he couldn’t read his thoughts somehow.

 

“C’mon.  Let’s go.” Anything was better than allowing his mind to delve further into the gutter, even facing his possibly furious roommates.  Levi pulled back, getting a wet lick across his cheek for his troubles.  He scrunched his nose up, wiping the slobber from his face and glaring at Eren.  “Ugh.  Fucking gross.”

 

Eren barked, and it was definitely a laugh, tail wagging even harder.  Levi cleaned his palm on Eren’s fur, and left it there, clinging to his coat as they walked towards Levi’s house.  The pain in his feet was back with a vengeance, and Levi stepped gingerly, careful of where he put pressure on them.  He’d refused Eren’s offer of shoes, the idea of shoving his sore feet into them not at all appealing, but he was regretting it in that moment as tiny bits of gravel got under his bandages.

 

Then Eren stepped in front of him, crouching down, and the intent was clear.  Levi wanted to argue.  It wasn’t very far to his house.  But Eren wouldn’t exactly be able to say anything in return, and Levi got the feeling Eren wouldn’t be easy to deny.  He climbed onto him, arms wrapped around Eren’s neck, feet hooked over his back, knees splayed out on either side of him.  

 

Levi had started out the day working at a mechanic shop, and ended it by riding on a werewolf, half drunk on pack magic.  His feet throbbed with every beat of his heart, and he was sore all over.  Levi’s head ached, and his teeth itched, and he sort of felt like he’d been hit by a truck.

 

But Eren was warm and soft and welcoming under his hands, loping cautiously up to Levi’s duplex.  Eren was real, was there against him.  Not dead thousands of years ago, or across the word in some archeological dig scratching out Shiganti in a notebook.  

 

From the moment he’d gotten his mark, Levi had held onto it, something precious in a world that had taken more than it ever gave back.  It took his mother, and gave him Kenny.  Took his childhood and gave back bruises.  

 

Then it gave him words on his wrist that he couldn’t read, but meant the world to him all the same.

 

Levi’s emotions were fried, too close to the surface, too potent.  Vivid and overflowing, tears threatening, and Levi just needed to keep his shit together for a little longer, and he could face the world again when he woke up.

 

Eren paused just outside his front door to let Levi climb off him, and he braced himself, looking to Eren as if for help.

 

“You ready?”  

 

Eren woofed, and Levi nodded and turned the knob to go inside with Eren at his heels.  Isabel and Farlan were both in the living room, leaping to their feet and running towards him in an instant.  

 

“Levi!  You’re okay!  Where the FUCK did you go, you didn’t ev- oh fucking shit!”

 

They stumbled back in unison when they caught sight of Eren, who was sitting demurely at Levi’s side, trying to look harmless and failing.  Farlan pulled Isabel in front of him, pointing at Eren, as though Levi didn’t know he was there.

 

“Uhh, Levi, there’s a… giant ass fucking dog, in our living room.  Where did you go, without your phone or your shoes, your feet are all fucked up man we were so worried.  Who the fuck’s clothes are you wearing, why is there… a huge, terrifying dog in our living room?”  

 

“We called the police but they wouldn’t file a missing person’s report until you’d been gone for 72 hours or more,” Isabel interrupted Farlan’s ranting, but was clearly distracted, covering her mouth with her hands and smiling wide.  “Who’s dog is this?  Is he nice?”

 

Eren rolled over onto his back and showed her his belly, tail wagging almost violently, smiling at Isabel as best he could.

 

“That’s not a dog, Izzy, that’s a wolf.  I don’t know a lot about dogs but I know that is not one.”  Unease was creeping into Farlan’s voice, and he tried to hold Isabel back to no avail.  She crouched down and was talking to Eren in a high pitched voice, scratching at his chest.

 

“Awww, he’s a good boy, look at him!”  She grabbed his face and kissed the side of his nose, scritching behind Eren’s ears, nuzzling at him.  “Look at this pretty baby!  You walked Levi home, didn’t you, such a handsome boy!”  

 

Eren writhed around shamelessly under the attention, licking at Isabel’s hands and face and making happy chuffing sounds.  Farlan looked unconvinced, but knew it was a losing battle trying to separate Isabel from a friendly animal of any kind.  He moved to stand next to Levi instead, grabbing his shoulders and leaning down to meet his eyes for a moment before taking in the rest of him with a frown.

 

“Levi, are you okay?  What happened?  Do I need to take you to the hospital?  You’re… are you still drunk?”  Levi made a so-so gesture with his hand, squinting with one eye and shrugging.  Farlan frowned harder.  “You’re… all fucked up, and wearing someone else’s clothes, and someone wrapped your feet in gauze?  It looks like you took a shower.  Where have you been?  Where did this dog come from?  I’m am freaking the fuck out right now, I’m not gonna lie, it’s been hours.”

 

Isabel was looking up at him then, still petting Eren, but waiting for him to say something.  There was worry in her eyes, and in Farlan’s, and Levi hated that he put it there, but they would have to wait a little while longer for answers.

 

“I’m sorry I scared you guys.  I was drunk, and I went for a walk, and I fucked up my feet, and someone found me and let me use their shower and borrow some clothes and now we have a dog and I am fine but I need to go to bed and I swear I’ll answer all your questions in the morning.”  

 

Levi patted Farlan on the shoulder and walked past him, ruffling Isabel’s hair on his way by and making a beeline for his room.  Eren got up and padded along beside him, Farlan following after, protesting.

 

“What do you mean we have a dog?  We can’t have a dog!  We can’t afford the deposit!  Or the food, for that matter, look how big that fucking thing is!  What if he shits in the floor?  What if he eats you in your sleep?  What if eats ME in MY sleep?”

 

Levi crawled onto their mattress, patting the edge of the bed in invitation, and Eren hopped up next to him, squeezing himself into the small space he’d been allotted somehow.

 

“He’s not going to eat anyone.  Or shit in the floor.  Eren’s a good boy.”  He nosed into Eren and closed his eyes, listening to Farlan and Isabel’s voices as they went back and forth.

 

“That’s not his name?  His tags say Titan,” Izzy said, sounding ambivalent.

 

“What the fuck?  Levi, did you  _ steal someone’s dog? _ ”  Levi didn’t answer, already barely there, hands stroking through Eren’s fur.  He threw a leg over him, and Eren licked at his chin.  Still gross, but Levi was too comfortable to wipe at it right then.

 

“If he stole the dog, it doesn’t look like he had to try very hard, honestly.  Dog looks pretty happy to me.  For a stolen animal.”

 

“That’s not the point!  I don’t even give a shit about the dog!  Fuck the dog, okay? Forget about the dog, the dog is the least important thing here.  Levi found out his mark’s in a dead language, got shitfaced drunk when he can’t even look at a bottle of booze without cringing or getting lost in his head, took off barefooted, left his phone and then came back, hours later with his feet all fucked up wearing someone else’s clothes, fresh out of the shower!  What if somebody drugged him?”  Farlan’s voice went quiet, but Levi could still hear him, hissing his words at Isabel in an angry whisper.  “What if someone assaulted him or something?  Did you see his pupils?  Alcohol doesn’t blow them out like that, and Levi wouldn’t just take something willingly, you fucking know that.”  

 

“Shhhh, hey, it’s okay.  Set an alarm, wake him up in eight hours, if we need to get him to a hospital we have plenty of time.  You have like, 72 hours for… that kinda stuff, right?  Other than his feet he looked mostly okay.  I’ll set my alarm too, just, try and get some sleep and we’ll see what Levi has to say in the morning.  If he can’t remember anything we’ll make him go to the emergency room, ‘kay?”

 

He couldn’t hear the rest of their conversation, but the lights were growing dim behind his lids, and the door was closing, the bed dipping under Farlan’s weight.  He said something to Eren, a plea veiled as a threat, and then everything went quiet.  A hand pressed against his forehead, as though checking for a fever, and then brushed his hair back and fell away.

 

God, Levi didn’t deserve them.  Didn’t deserve a soulmate.

 

Didn’t deserve much of anything, really, but fuck what he deserved.

 

Farlan was warm at his back, and Eren was breathing even in his arms, and Levi was going to go to sleep, and hope they were still there when he woke up.

  
  
  
  
  
  



	14. Surprise

It wasn’t the sun that woke Eren up, or a sound, but the feeling of being watched, something that unsettled his instincts even in sleep.  He rearranged himself a bit, careful not to dislodge the fingers buried in his fur, before cracking an eyelid to find Levi’s roommate Farlan sitting up in bed, watching him warily.

 

“If I reach over there are you gonna bite my hand off?”  

 

Eren made a whining noise in his throat and let one ear flop down, wagging his tail.  It was hard to be non-threatening without showing his belly, or pawing at someone, but he did his best ‘harmless canine’ impression.  Farlan didn’t seem entirely convinced, but he reached out anyway, shaking Levi’s shoulder gently.  

 

“Levi.”  Levi didn’t stir, and Farlan jostled him a little harder, still watching Eren like he was afraid he’d lose a few fingers any moment.  “Levi, hey.  C’mon man, wake up for a minute.”    Levi made a remarkably unattractive snorting sound, before burrowing deeper into Eren’s fur and stilling again.  Farlan huffed and grabbed Levi’s shoulder, rolling him onto his back and trying again.  “Leviiiiiiiii.”  

 

There was irritation creeping into his voice, and worry underneath that, but he still didn’t raise his voice as most people would when trying to wake up someone who was so deeply out of it.  Levi finally reacted, sitting up on one elbow and blinking slow, looking around, dazed.  His hair was wild, sticking up a dozen different directions, and there were lines on his face from where he’d been lying on a wrinkled pillowcase.  His cheeks were pink, and one corner of his mouth was wet with drool.  One eye was scrunched mostly closed against the faint morning light.

 

It was fucking adorable, and Eren licked his face enthusiastically, earning an indignant squawk.

 

“Ugggggh, fucking nasty dude.  Can you not do that, please?”  His voice was heavy with sleep, and he wiped absently at his cheek, glaring at Eren.

 

Eren licked him again, answering as best he could without a mouth that could speak.  He had a lot of control of his wolf form, but not enough to stop himself from slobbering all over his soulmate’s face, evidently.  Levi grabbed his muzzle, holding it closed without any real force and looking him in the eyes.

 

“It.  Is.  Too.  Early.  Bad dog.”  

 

Eren snaked his tongue out to lap at Levi’s fingers, tail wagging hard enough that the blankets were knocked to the floor.  Not just his tail, but his entire lower half, rocking the bed back and forth in his exuberance.  Levi sighed and fell back onto his pillow, burying his face in it with a groan and hiding from Eren’s overeager doggy kisses.  He licked at his hair instead, shoving his nose into Levi’s shoulder where it met the bed, trying to wedge himself underneath.

 

Maybe he had good self control, but his inner lykos was delighted at Levi’s obvious acceptance of Eren’s animal form, and he wanted to show that appreciation in whatever way he could. 

 

“It’s not actually too early, you’ve been asleep for ten hours,” Farlan said, interrupting Eren’s enthusiastic nuzzling.

 

“Mmmmmmmm.  ‘S my fuckin’ day off though, man.”  Levi’s reply was muffled into the pillow.  

 

“Yeah, but you sort of, oh, maybe, vanished for a good nine hours or so last night and came back all kinds of fucked off and weird and, and… and-”  Farlan gestured wildly at the bed, huffing, “-with a giant dog I might add, and I’m gonna need you to get your ass up and tell me what happened before I throw you over my shoulder and physically carry you to the hospital.” 

 

Levi sat up frowning, and Eren took the opportunity to lay his head in Levi’s lap.  He began absently petting his fingers through Eren’s fur, and Eren closed his eyes happily, drinking up the attention.  

 

“Why?  I’m fine.  I mean, I’m sore as fuck and my feet hurt but I don’t need to go to the hospital.  We can’t afford it, anyway, it’s not like I broke a bone or something.”

 

Eren’s ears went back sadly at that.  The idea that Levi couldn’t seek medical attention for something because be didn’t have the money made Eren want to whine in unhappiness.  He shoved the thought down, ignoring it for the moment in favor of listening to Levi’s roommate continue, still gesticulating with his hands, flustered and displeased.

 

“Why?  I dunno, drug test?  Rape kit?  You were on something when you came home, and you have on someone else’s clothes, Levi.  If you can’t remember what happened, we’re going to the hospital.”  

 

Warmth suffused Eren at the unguarded concern in Farlan’s voice,and his gratitude for Levi’s roommates was a visceral thing in his chest.  He hadn’t been around to keep Levi safe, to care for him, but he hadn’t been alone.  These two had been there, and he could feel their affection buried in Levi, roots that dug down into him to keep him steady.  

 

Eren watched Levi press the heel of his free hand to one eye, squinting down at him with the other one.  He woofed softly, in what he hoped was an encouraging way, pouring the barest hint of pack magic through their bond.  Nothing like the previous night, just enough to have Levi’s shoulders relaxing, tension easing back in his muscles, air leaving him in a heavy sigh.  Isabel stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame, waiting for Levi’s explanation.  He glanced between them, down at Eren, then back up again, shrugging helplessly.

 

“No part of this is going to sound sane or believable in any way.”  Farlan sighed back, exasperated.

 

“Just fucking tell us, dude.  You’ve never lied to us. We’ll believe you.”  The noise Levi made in his throat was somewhere between a whine and a groan.

 

“I found my soulmate, last night.”  

  
Eren preened in Levi’s lap, nosing against his thighs, because even if he wasn’t sure how to go about telling his friends everything there was still an underlying joy arcing through the bond between them.  A sense of completion that was mirrored deep inside Eren, amplified by all the years he’d waited, a thirst he’d waited ages to quench.  Farlan recoiled in surprise at Levi’s words, head cocked to the side.

 

“You… you fucking what?  I thought your mark was in some weird language that no one used anymore.  You were all jacked up about it yesterday.”

 

Levi focused on Eren as he started talking again, hands scritching at his ear, and Eren leaned into the touch.  Some werewolves were finicky about people petting them like they would a dog.  They viewed it as disrespectful.

 

Eren didn’t care.  It felt nice, Levi’s fingers scratching softly in his fur, his other hand stroking through it slowly.  He listened carefully, wanting to hear the beginning of Levi’s story for himself.

 

“Look, I woke up after you guys left for work, and I felt like…  Like I needed to run.  Not ‘oh I should go for a jog in the middle of the night’ but like I HAD to.  Like the need to breathe when you’re underwater for a long time, no way to ignore it, no choice in the matter.  I felt weird, drugged or drunk or something, and I took off.  I didn’t think about where I was going, I just went.  By the time I slowed down I was on the outskirts of Marinata National Forest.”  

 

Isabel went wide eyed, and Farlan’s jaw fell open.

 

“You… ran, barefooted, to Marinata.  Levi, what the fuck?  That’s-”  Levi shrugged.

 

“A long way, I know.”  

 

“Your soulmate was in the woods in the middle of the night?” Isabel asked.  “Was he camping, or something?  Where is he now?  Are those his clothes?  Why didn’t he bring you back here?  He doesn’t have a car?  Is he a weirdo?  Did you not want him to meet us?  Because if he’s weird it’s okay, he’s still your soulmate, as long as he’s not an asshole to you we aren’t going to judge him.  I mean-”

 

“Izzy, one thing at a time.” Farlan warned, and she went quiet and crossed her arms with a scowl at her brother.  

 

Eren could feel Levi’s hesitation, and knew he was wondering exactly how much he should tell them.  He woofed again, tail thumping a few times, blinking up at Levi and letting his tongue loll out of his mouth.  Eren pushed energy into the bond, warm feelings of acceptance and encouragement.  Another lykos would recognize it as an Alpha’s permission, their approval.   _ Do what you want.   _ Levi seemed to get the message, but didn’t appear any more eager to continue.  He looked down at Eren, begging with his eyes.

 

“This would be easier if you could talk.  I am a terrible liar, I’m never going to be able to keep this from them.  You said I could tell them, right?”

 

Levi sounded unsure, like he didn’t know if he was remembering right, but hopeful.  

 

Eren took this to mean he should shift in front of them, which presented a handful of problems.  If they freaked out severely enough, Eren would have to subdue them until he could get one of his fae over to erase their memories.  Chasing down a pair of hysterical humans would not be fun, especially without clothes on, but Eren’s instincts weren’t sounding any alarms at the idea.  He hopped off the bed, nosing under one of the blankets on the floor until only his head stuck out.

 

Watching a dog turn into a man would be startling enough without his dick hanging out.  

 

Humans were weird about nudity nowadays.  

 

Farlan and Isabel were sharing worried glances, eyeing Levi like they thought he’d lost his shit.  Quiet, and concerned, and they were communicating silently, debating the best way to deal with their friend talking nonsense to a strange dog.  Eren barked, and as soon as they looked his way, he let the change roll over him, until he was crouching on the floor with a blanket clutched around his shoulders and smiling sheepishly.

 

“Ah… hi?  I’m Eren.  I’m Levi’s soulmate.”

 

Their expressions were priceless, blatant shock and disbelief.  Isabel covered her mouth with her hand, stunned into momentary silence, but then Farlan’s face shifted over to something like frustration.

 

“Oh, what the fuck?”  Farlan said, sounding oddly annoyed, but Isabel spoke over him, almost shouting.

 

“DO IT AGAIN!”  Levi made an irritated sound at her.

 

“He can’t just do it again, it’s not a-”

 

Eren did it again, flashing into his wolf form, woofing, and then flashing back.  He smiled uncertainly at Isabel, tugging the blanket tighter around his shoulders.  She shrieked, jumping up and down a few times with an expression of childlike euphoria.

 

Farlan stared at Eren for a long moment, arms crossed over his chest, an array of emotions crossing his face.  Irritation, like the idea of supernatural creatures being real was somehow an attack on him, personally.  Then he glanced over at Levi, and his features softened infinitesimally.  Eren followed his gaze and caught Levi looking at him, smiling, covering his mouth.  

 

Raw, blatant adoration, all of directed at Eren, and it was hard to breathe.  He smiled back, unable to help himself, and Farlan threw his hands in the air as he turned on his heel.

 

“I need some fucking coffee.”

  
  
  



	15. Remnant

Isabel was on her third cup of coffee which, in hindsight, was probably a bad idea.  She hadn’t stopped talking since Eren had retrieved his jeans from outside and sat down at the rickety dining room table in their kitchen.  Isabel kept talking, and Levi was torn between gratitude and secondhand embarrassment.

 

She was asking a lot of questions that Levi himself wanted answers to, but with zero tact.  Isabel didn’t have a filter, and Levi was used to it, but he wasn’t sure if Eren would be offended or not.  So far he’d just smiled, and rattled off answers one after another, sipping at a bottle of water and playing with Levi’s fingers, leaning into him.  Eren had pushed his chair up next to Levi’s, until their thighs were flush against one another, his bare toes nudging at Levi’s foot.  Taking every inch of contact he would get and pushing for more, creeping further into Levi’s space one subtle gesture at a time.

 

He was also shirtless, the intricate black of all his tattoos more visible in the light of day than it had been the previous evening.  Dark ink curled down his biceps, twisted over his collarbones, spilled down to splay over most of his back.  Levi traced the designs with his eyes, mapping out the swirling filigree, gaze flitting over the markings where they disappeared over Eren’s shoulder.  There were a lot of them, and they made it hard for Levi to focus on what Eren was saying.  

 

Less because of the tattoos themselves and more the body they were inked into, muscles lean but well defined, a dark thatch of curls trailing down Eren’s abdomen to disappear into his jeans.  

 

Levi shook himself.  Tried to pay attention to the conversation, and ignore thoughts of how easy it would be for Eren to toss him around.  Pick him up, and throw him over his shoulder.  Then down on a bed, or the ground, or-

 

Eren’s eyes pulsed green, cutting sideways at Levi, his nostrils flaring for a moment.  Levi felt something in his chest, strange but not totally unfamiliar, warm energy curling through him.  Muted.  Music through a wall, an echo without a source.  He flushed when he realized what was happening, taking a deliberate drink of his coffee and glancing away.

 

The bond between them was asserting itself, Levi’s emotions rolling into Eren and then washing back, amplified, answered.  

 

Levi’s desire, however vague, written in his scent, painted in his emotions.

 

No secrets between wolves, it seemed.  For better or worse.

 

Isabel kept talking, saving Levi from being forced to acknowledge the heat swelling in him, the pink on his face, the sweat in his palms.  Educating him about Eren vicariously, a rapid fire inquisition with no end in sight.

 

“So you can turn any time you want, but on the full moon, most wolves have to?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“But  _ you  _ don’t have to.”  Eren shook his head.

 

“No.”

 

“Because you’re super old.”

 

“ISABEL!” Levi hissed for the tenth time, but Eren just laughed and nodded.

 

“Yes, because I’m super old.”

 

“And ghosts are real.  What about vampires?”  Eren hummed thoughtfully, shrugging.

 

“Nowadays people call them that.  When I was turned, they were called nosphoros, and I tend to still use that term.  Where someone is from, and when they are from, has a lot to do with the language they use to describe any particular supernatural being.  Some of the culturally popular terminology is offensive when used by another supernatural.  Vampire is… pretty much universally considered as a derogatory thing, unless the person has been turned very recently.”  Isabel blinked, stunned into momentary silence, but it didn’t last.

 

It never lasted.

 

“How do you know what to call them?”

 

“I mean, if I’m not killing them, and they’re not trying to kill me, generally I just ask.  Nosphoros is a pretty archaic term, and most of the modern day covens weren’t around when the word originated, but it was something they coined themselves.  I’ve never had anyone claim offense to it.”  

 

“What about fairies?”

 

“Yep, those too.  Lots of different kinds.  Every kind you’ve heard about and a hundred more that you haven’t.”

 

“Even the tooth fairy?”  Eren cringed, squinting one eye.

 

“There are fae that steal children’s teeth, but it’s a lot less whimsical in practice than people have made it sound in all your stories.  They don’t really care if the teeth are still attached to the child or not.  I don’t know how humans managed to romanticize ‘supernatural entity sneaks into homes and collects teeth’ into anything other than a horror story, but people are weird, I guess.”

 

They let that sink in, Isabel looking briefly uneasy, Farlan shifting in place.  Tongue sliding over his teeth, jaw popping.

 

“So is everything real?  Dragons, shapeshifters, demons, all of it?  Is there anything that’s just a story people made up?”  

 

It seemed like a question that might require some forethought.  Careful consideration, or qualification of his response.  Instead Eren shrugged again, and answered immediately, without hesitation.

 

“Aliens.”  

 

The three of them stared at him blankly, and Eren hedged a bit, one hand lifted up in a placating gesture.  

 

“Well, let me rephrase that.  Neither I, nor any being I have ever met in my life, have ever encountered, or claim to have encountered, an alien.  They could be real, and here, for all I know.  But I’ve never met one.  There are a lot of things that used to exist, that are now extinct, but most of your mythology and folklore is describing things that are, or once were, real.  People don’t always get the details right.  History is written by the victorious, and what not, you all tend to demonize things you don’t understand or are afraid of.”  

 

Farlan shot him a glare, and Eren raised both hands in surrender.  

 

“I mean humanity as a whole!  When they discover evidence of any kind of supernatural creature, their go to response tends to be wholesale genocide, historically speaking.  It’s why we’re fairly zealous about protecting our identities.”  

 

Farlan was still frowning, unhappy, nose scrunched up in a way that told Levi he had a diatribe ready.

 

“Not all humans are-”  Levi lifted a hand, interrupting Farlan, deadpan.

 

“Wait.  I’m gonna stop you right there, at ‘not all humans’, and let you think really hard about what you’re going to say.  You just learned werewolves were real this morning, maybe don’t mansplain the supernatural world to one who is thousands of years old.”  

 

Eren stifled a giggle, poorly, and Farlan was silent for a moment before nodding and uncrossing his arms.

 

“Point taken.  I will give you that one.”  

 

He drank out of his coffee in lieu of continuing, and everyone looked to Isabel, waiting.  She’d already gotten a lot of information out of Eren, none of the answers simple.  What he did for a living (run a pack of wolves, mostly, and hunt down anything that posed a risk to the human population in his territory, even if he was  _ technically  _ a contractor), how old he was (three thousand four hundred years, give or take a few centuries, and one strange incident involving a fae who stopped time), what was his family like (dead, if they were talking blood relatives, but he did have nearly four dozen wolves, shapeshifters, fae and assorted supernaturals who called him Alpha, and lots more who lived in his territory in the Marinata forest.)

 

All the basic things people tended to ask before frantically making out in the woods, but the order was less important than the sentiment, Levi supposed.  When Isabel opened her mouth to continue her inquisition Levi stopped her, palm up, unable to keep the annoyance entirely out of his voice.

 

“Hey, stop, okay?  We could sit here all day and still not get through everything you want to ask.  He can’t consolidate several millennia of knowledge about the shit that goes bump in the night into one conversation.”  Isabel scowled, flicking a piece of toast at Levi, which he batted out of the air.

 

Deliberately not dwelling on how that was all he’d had to offer Eren for breakfast, as Levi usually went grocery shopping on Saturday.

 

Empty cupboards in a piece of shit house.

 

_ Don’t think about it. _

 

“You got something better to do, asshole?”  Isabel asked, kicking him halfheartedly underneath the table.

 

“Someone better to do…”  Farlan interjected, smirking into his mug and looking pointedly away.

 

“Ugh!  Shut up, none of  _ that  _ you nasty ass, I don’t need that mental image in- oh.”  Isabel stopped talking, eyes going wide, lifting her hands to cover her face.  “Oh my God.”  Farlan frowned, setting his coffee down and watching her closely.

 

“What?  What is it?” 

 

Isabel sank deeper into her seat, fingers still splayed over her eyes, not entirely hiding the horrified expression as she peeked through them to glance at Eren.

 

“I rubbed your belly.  I kissed your face and called you a handsome boy.  Oh my God, I’m so sorry, I thought you were a dog, I-...”

 

Eren laughed, head thrown back, and it was loud and beautiful and made something unwind in Levi, smoke drifting out of a room, knots coming untied.  He almost missed what Eren said afterward, too caught up in the grin on his face, the sound of his voice, the sheer fucking radiance of his presence.

 

“It’s okay, belly rubs are innocent.  It’s not the same when I’m shifted as it would be as a person.  You can pet me, I don’t mind.”  Isabel let her hands fall, still looking embarrassed.

 

“But you’re-”

 

“I like having my ears scratched.  It’s not weird if you don’t make it weird.”  

 

Isabel remained silent, obviously not entirely at ease with the fact that she’d rubbed Levi’s soulmate’s belly and told him what a good boy he was, but Levi couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.  Then Farlan gasped, pointing at Levi accusingly for a moment, eyes alight.

 

“Oh fuck, Levi.”  He looked too pleased with himself, and Levi’s guard was up instantly, eyes already narrowed in a glare.

 

“What?”

 

“Levi.  Your soulmate is a werewolf.  You know what this means.”  He didn’t want to ask, not with the expression of pure, unadulterated joy on Farlan’s face, but if he didn’t Isabel would, so there was no use avoiding it.

 

“What does it mean?”  Farlan smiled impossibly wider.

 

“You’re a goddamned furry.”

 

Levi sighed.  Everyone else laughed, and he wanted to be mad, but it was hard to be angry with his soulmate there. 

 

Warm, and smiling, and holding his hand.

 

Then Isabel spoke again, curious, nonchalant.

 

“One more question, dude, Eren, who fucking  _ bit  _ you?  Some kind of wolf pack dominance thing?  Is it because Levi showed up out of nowhere?  Your neck is fucked up, man.”

 

Levi flushed bright, coughing as he choked on air, and Eren just kept smiling.

 

……….

 

Levi didn’t have to work that day, but Farlan and Isabel were not as lucky, Saturday being especially busy for a restaurant.  They got ready to leave, making Levi promise to keep his phone with him if he went anywhere, as well as swearing they wouldn’t tell Eren’s secrets when asked for their discretion.

 

After they both said, ‘promise,’ something electric shivered through the air.  Something fluttering behind their ribs, and both of them put a hand to their chests, and then glanced at Eren expectantly.  Uncertain, wary.  He shrugged, nonplussed, his eyes flashing vivid green.

 

“There are fae in my pack, as much a part of it as any of my wolves, bound to me with blood magic.  When people break their promises to me, I know.”  

 

It sounded incredibly ominous, Levi had to admit.  Both Farlan and Isabel went pale, and wide eyed, and Eren looked immediately panicked, waving his hands frantically.  

 

“No, that’s- it’s not a threat, I was just explaining the- the- the magic thing, that you felt, I wouldn’t hurt Levi’s family, it’s an involuntary response.  It just happens, when someone promises me something in earnest that way.”

 

They headed out the door, still looking a little leery, and Eren glanced over at Levi after they were gone.  He smiled, something strained and nervous, teeth worrying his bottom lip for a moment.

 

“I can’t tell if that went well or not.  Farlan doesn’t seem too enthusiastic about me.”  

 

Levi walked over to where Eren stood and leaned into him without thinking.  Drawn like gravity, arms wrapping around his waist, face buried in Eren’s chest.  Anxiety stretched taut in him, but he wasn’t sure why, until he realized it wasn’t his own emotions he was feeling.  It was Eren.  His worry about what Levi’s friends thought of him, about being accepted by them, wanting their approval.  

 

Eren hugged him back immediately, face shoved into Levi’s hair, hands drifting lazy up and down his back.  Rucking his shirt up, pressing Levi tighter against him, making a low noise in his throat, and it took Levi a minute to remember what he’d been going to say.

 

Eren was distracting, the simplest touches making Levi’s mind blank out in beautiful ways.

 

“Isabel likes you.  Farlan is mad at me for making them worry yesterday, and that is making him generally shitty to be around.  When he’s upset it sort of bleeds into everything he says and does.  He’ll get over it, I’m sure you’ll get along just fine.”  

 

Eren hummed, uncertainty still radiating into Levi from him.  Levi traced meaningless patterns into the bare skin of Eren’s back, trying to picture which tattoos were where, following imaginary lines with his fingers.

 

“They’re the only family you have, right?  An Alpha can feel the bonds someone has with other people.  Their friends, their family.  To make sure everyone is getting along, that there’s no bad blood between their wolves.  It’s even stronger with you, easier to map out the people you’re tied to, the ones you love.  And you have friends, but these are the only two people that feel like… your pack, I guess, is the only other thing I can equate it with.  Your brother, your sister, and no one else.”

 

Bitterness swelled up in Levi involuntarily, an image of Kenny flashing through his mind.  His  _ family.   _

 

Levi’s lip curled back from his teeth.

 

Even years later his hands were still clenching into fists, his nose throbbing with the ghost of a punch, his ribs remembering what it felt like to be broken.

 

He wasn’t going to mention Kenny.  Levi didn’t feel like sullying the morning with his presence.  Didn’t want to give him that, a small sort of victory, even if he would never know.  Thinking of him right then felt pointless, with his soulmate nuzzling at him, touching him, learning his scent and his voice and his skin.

 

But then Eren hissed, baring his teeth against Levi’s temple where he’d been pressing soft kisses a moment before, fingertips sinking into the muscle of Levi’s shoulders.  Levi could sense Eren inside him, a physical presence, energy pushing at his past, at his emotions.  Through his skin and into his bones, deeper, deeper, deeper.

 

Feeling out Levi’s ties to Kenny.  He could picture them suddenly, the bond like spiderwebs, black and smoky and stretched taut between them over miles and miles.  Things flashed through his head, snippets of memories and feelings.  Slamming into a wall, head smashing through plaster and muscles loose, a rag doll as he slipped to the floor.  Knuckles against his lips, teeth slicing them open from the inside, the sharp taste of blood.  Laying in bed alone in the dark, feigning sleep.  Keeping still, breathing even and measured and  _ don’t come in here, please, don’t come in here- _

 

Growling brought him back to the present, and then Eren was pulling out of those black places inside him, hands urging him closer and closer, restless on Levi’s skin like he couldn’t get enough until he finally just lifted Levi off his feet.  Levi looped his legs around Eren’s waist automatically, Eren holding him tight as he nosed against Levi’s throat, hiding his face there, breathing heavy.

 

“Eren?”  Levi tried, hands petting at his hair, and Eren flinched, pressing his forehead tighter against Levi’s skin.

 

“I’m sorry.”  Levi frowned, confused, still stroking soothing fingers through Eren’s tangled locks.

 

“For what?”  

 

Eren backed up until he ran into Levi’s couch and sat down on it.  He coaxed Levi further into his lap, nose shoved into Levi’s pulse point, breathing in deep.

 

“I shouldn’t have pushed into your bonds that way without asking.  We’re soulmates, but that doesn’t mean you’re not entitled to privacy.  Still, whoever-”  He cut himself off, growling again briefly, taking a heaving breath before continuing.  “I’m sorry, and we don’t have to talk about it right now, but we are going to have to address... whoever that is, at some point.”  Levi shrugged, swallowing around the imagined taste of copper lingering in his mouth, sour and unwelcome.

 

“He’s no one important.  Not anymore.  Not worth the breath I’d waste telling you about him.”  

 

Eren whined, something wounded leaking into the bond between them, aching and angry and viciously protective.

 

“He  _ hurt  _ you.  It’s old, and you’ve got him shoved down  _ deep,  _ but I can feel it.  And you were small, and alone, and he’s still  _ alive,  _ and I don’t know if my wolf can abide that for very long.”

 

Eren said it as though Kenny being alive was some sort of sacrilege, and it was both thrilling and frightening, the image that surged up in his mind.  

 

Kenny torn apart, lifeless under sharp teeth and bright eyes, the moon shining overhead.  Once upon a time, it would have been a dream come true.  Now it just felt irrelevant.

 

He let the image go, coaxing Eren’s face up so he could meet his eerie bright eyes, thumbs rubbing back and forth over his cheekbones.

 

“He doesn’t matter.”  Eren smiled, but it was sad, and he shrugged apologetically.

 

“I’ve killed people for so much less, Levi.  The world is better off without someone like that.” 

 

Levi didn’t know what to say.  

 

Then his feet throbbed, and his stomach growled, and Eren’s smile turned genuine.  A switch flipping.

 

The door to a dark room closing, forgotten for the moment.  Still there, but no longer letting shadows into the air around them, sealed off to be dealt with later.

 

“Mmmm, I’m not taking very good care of you so far, am I?  Let’s get your feet fixed, and some food in you, and introduce you to my roommates properly.  If that’s okay with you.”  Levi grinned, flexing his toes, wondering how Eren intended on fixing them exactly.

 

“Sounds better than a revenge killing.  It’s a little early in the afternoon for violent retribution.”

 

“Agree to disagree, sweetheart.  Agree to disagree.”

  
  
  
  
  
  



	16. Magic

Levi didn’t seem to be in any hurry to move, still straddling Eren on the couch and carefully tracing the swirling ink on his arms.  

 

Eren’s tattoos had been a part of him for his entire life.  Those few years at the beginning, when his skin was bare, now felt so brief and inconsequential they were hard to remember sometimes.  Snippets of things without any cohesion, stuttering and nonlinear.  

 

His mother holding him through a fever once when he was very young, sitting by the river and pouring water over his skin, begging the goddess to keep him alive.  The elders giving him his bow, telling him when he could string it himself, they would teach him to use it.  The smell of the ritual herbs.  So specific and vivid, so inextricably tied to his homeland in his mind, that when he’d caught the scent of something similar a few hundred years later across the world he’d lost his breath and stood frozen, tears in his eyes, trying to recall where and when he was.

 

Mostly, though, it didn’t feel like he’d been born in a dark tent, in a little village, all those years ago.

 

Eren had been born through the agony of teeth in his flesh.  In blood, and moonlight, coming into existence the moment he looked inside himself and found a wolf staring back at him.

 

So his tattoos didn’t feel like anything terribly important most of the time, even if he still knew the words of the goddess, the prayers to the flame, the rites of the stones.

 

With Levi’s fingers creeping over them, gentle and reverent, they felt more sacred than they ever had.  Eren relaxed into the touch, eyes falling closed, humming low from time to time.  

 

Ignoring the mountain of things he needed to accomplish, or at the very least discuss with Levi.  

 

Completing their bond, if he wanted to be turned, where he would stay now.  Where he worked, when he had to return, if Eren could maybe, possibly, follow him there, somehow.  Eren’s instincts roared up at the thought of Levi going anywhere alone, even if it was ridiculous to be so protective.  He’d been fine for twenty years, he’d be fine returning to his job without a werewolf in tow.

 

The wolf in Eren snarled then, unreasonable and unwilling to compromise, so he sighed and decided to fight that battle with himself when it became more immediately relevant.

 

He also needed to introduce Levi to the rest of the pack, since he probably didn’t remember much of their first meeting.  More pressing were the gashes on his feet, the coppery scent of his blood finally making Eren blink through the pleasant haziness of Levi’s presence in his lap.

 

When Eren mentioned bringing a healer to take care of him, Levi had insisted his injuries weren’t bad enough to justify any magic, trying to wave away Eren’s concern.

 

_ They’re not that serious, they’ll heal on their own in time. _

 

_ I’ve had worse,  _ Levi said dryly, and then immediately regretted it, judging from the look on his face.  Something he would have said around Farlan and Isabel without thinking, probably, making light of the things he’d been through.

 

But the guilt of realizing that Levi had been suffering for years, essentially right under Eren’s nose, was too fresh to ignore.

 

Flashes of Levi’s memories twisted through his mind, the vivid recollection of Levi’s past like an open wound in Eren, and suddenly he was trying to calm his breathing again.  Nosing into Levi’s throat, reaching through the pack bonds to steady himself.  Reaching for stability.

 

Reaching for Jean, who was doing a fairly good job of keeping Eren’s raw feelings from washing back into the pack, acting as a barrier between him and the rest of their wolves.  It had been a long, long time since Eren had been so emotionally volatile, and he didn’t want the pack getting antsy and unsettled because of formless anger he was leaking into the ties between them.

 

Being able to tell how his wolves were doing ran both ways if he wasn’t careful, and he couldn’t afford to stress any of them out.

 

Eren breathed deep, letting his anger recede, tucking it away.  His eyes were still bright, his muscles tense, but it didn’t seem like Levi was feeling his fury secondhand.  

 

Levi agreed to let him summon Nanaba then, mostly to shut him up, if Eren was guessing.  So, thoughtlessly, he’d slipped into his own consciousness and reached for Nanaba,  _ my mate is hurt, can you help me? _

 

It wasn’t often that Eren called on the fae in his pack to heal someone.  Only a couple of them even had the ability, which was finicky, something that tended to come to fae with age rather than out of any inborn skill.  Werewolves usually healed fast enough on their own without supernatural intervention, wounds closing up rapidly, especially under the light of the moon.

 

Last time he’d needed Nanaba’s help with an injury had been a decade or so before, when a group of feral werewolves attacked a member of Eren’s pack, nearly killing them.  Now that Eren thought about it, he’d never actually asked for her assistance with a wound that wouldn’t have otherwise been fatal, not unless she just happened to be around.  Werewolves and fae magic didn’t always mesh too well, with some lykos having a stronger aversion than others, getting stuck in their animal forms or disassociating.

 

He’d certainly never called her for something as minor as a handful of lacerations on a human’s feet.  When Eren needed Nanaba to heal someone, it was usually a matter of life and death.

 

Which explained why she appeared instantly at his side as soon as he reached out to her through the pack bonds, frantic and wild eyed, magic already surging up bright in her palms.

 

Looking back, he probably should have thought it through a little better, but Eren was having a hard time focusing on anything besides the warm weight of his soulmate against him.

 

Eren hadn’t expected Nanaba to arrive so fast, or to make her entrance quite so dramatically.  Levi jerked in his arms, startled at the sudden appearance of a woman in his living room, her hands glowing golden with power, light pouring from her eyes and mouth.  Nanaba took Eren and Levi in, relatively unharmed, and the bright glow of magic ebbed back until it finally winked out completely.  She was still breathing hard, hands trembling as she shot Eren a look, and he bit his lip and cocked his head sheepishly.

 

“I’m sorry.  I didn’t think you’d-”

 

“You didn’t think I’d throw myself so violently through faerie that I sort of want to throw up, in a hurry to get here, thinking your soulmate was dying?   Because that’s what happens when you say ‘help my mate is hurt’ without any explanation.  Especially considering that, according to a dozen or so mouthy wolves, your mate is a squishy little human with no healing capability whatsoever.”  Nanaba glanced at Levi briefly, waving a hand through the air.  “No offense.”

 

“None taken,” Levi said, still wide eyed from Nanaba’s arrival, not that Eren could blame him.

 

“I’m sorry I scared you.  Nanaba, this is Levi.”  He grinned then, broad and stupid and untamable.  “My soulmate.”  

 

Eren didn’t need to say it, but it felt good, and something about his expression had the glare melting off of Nanaba’s face.  Levi rolled his eyes, and Nanaba sighed.

 

“I’d guessed as much, yes.”

 

“He’s got some cuts on his feet, and his hands, and chest.  It’s nothing that’s gonna kill him, but I’d still rather you take care of it than watch him limp around for week or so.”

 

Eren shifted Levi around until he was sitting on the couch beside him, feet stretched over Eren’s lap.  Nanaba sat down next to them and looked up at Levi, her hands hovering in the air, not quite touching him.

 

“I’m gonna unwrap this, and then I’ve gotta touch your skin.  It won’t hurt, but it’s going to feel strange.  Is that okay?”  

 

Levi shrugged, obviously not entirely at ease with the idea, but not uncomfortable enough that Eren felt anything from him through their bond.

 

“Knock yourself out.”

 

Nanaba worked quickly, taking the bloody wrapping off of Levi’s feet and tossing them to the floor.  She didn’t bother looking at the injuries, just laid her palms flat against the soles of Levi’s feet.  He winced at the contact, a barely noticeable twinge in his face, but didn’t pull away.  Then there was a pulse of light, and his whole body twitched as he yanked his legs back all at once.

 

“What the  _ fuck?” _

 

Nanaba giggled, and Eren tried not to grin, burying his face in Levi’s arm.

 

“Feels weird, yeah?”  Eren asked, mouth shoved against Levi’s bicep, peeking up at him from beneath his lashes.

 

“I feel like I got…  painlessly electrocuted with ice water.  Or something.”

 

Eren knew very well how it felt to have fae magic worked on you.  Not painful, but  _ foreign  _ like nothing else he’d ever experienced.  Hot and cold at once.  Everyone assumed being healed was a soothing thing, but fae energy wasn’t native by any means.

 

It was something from another place, another plane of existence.  The magic might consent to being wielded on earth occasionally, but not without making its otherworldliness known.  Nanaba reached out, lightning fast, and touched Levi’s hand, followed by his collarbone.  Two little pulses of light from her fingertips, quick as a magic trick, and Levi recoiled from the sensation, rolling off the couch to his feet.  He shook out his hand, and grabbed at his chest, looking at Nanaba with mild distrust.  She just smiled wider, taking a savage sort of enjoyment from the reaction she got when she healed someone for the first time.

 

Then Levi blinked, lifting his feet one at time to look at the smooth, unbroken skin on the bottom.  Wiggled his toes, and glanced at his palm, no trace of the gash that had been there moments before.  Levi made a fist, and then released it before meeting Nanaba’s eyes again.

 

“Uhhh… thank you, for that.  I appreciate it, but let’s… not do it again, if we can help it.”  

 

He didn’t sound very grateful, and Nanaba just laughed.

 

“You’re welcome.  But that shouldn’t be an issue, should it?  Once you’re turned you’ll heal up fast, especially bonded to a wolf as old as Eren.”  Nanaba glanced back at Eren, brows furrowed.  “When are you turning him?  Next moon?”

 

Eren hesitated, unsure of how to respond.  He definitely wanted to turn Levi as soon as possible for safety reasons.  Levi was vulnerable as a human, and Eren wanted the strength of a lykos in him, and fast.  But it was ultimately his decision, and not one Eren would pressure him to make.

 

Levi spoke up before he had a chance to, sitting back down on the couch beside Eren, his feet curled up underneath him.  

 

“Can you do it then, on the next full moon?  You just have to bite me, right?  Do we have to wait, or could we go ahead and do it now?”  It was Eren’s turn to blink, a carefully blank look on his face, his words halting and uneven.

 

“I…  We uh…  it’s… better, to wait until just before the full moon, yeah.  And since we have… a half finished mate bond, we’d be sealing the bond and turning you at the same time.  I assumed you’d want to give it some thought before deciding, since it’s...  it’s a little… ahh… intense.  So to speak.”  

 

There was a pause, heavy somehow, and Eren shifted under its weight.

 

“Yes.  I can imagine being turned into werewolf is probably intense,” Levi said, expression wry and slightly amused.  Eren cringed a little, wondering how best to word what he needed to say.

 

“Well, yeah, that’s true, but it’s not exactly what I was getting at.  When you seal a mate bond between lykos, it throws both of you into a rut.  And I thought it might be a little... soon.  For that.  For you.”

 

Levi frowned at him, confused.

 

“And a rut, is…?”  

 

“He means you’re gonna want to fuck.” Nanaba interjected.  “Sometimes a rut isn’t triggered, if a lykos doesn’t experience that kind of attraction in general, but that’s the exception and not the rule.  And I can smell the rut on you already, from that impressive set of teeth marks you left in Eren’s throat last night.”  Levi’s cheeks went pink, but he didn’t look away, and Nanaba continued.  “So, Eren is hesitant to turn you, because not only is it going to upend your entire life while you try and get a handle on your wolf, but it’s also going to rocket you two straight past acceptable first date kisses and straight into porn sequel territory as soon as he gets his fangs in you.”

 

Eren loved Nanaba, he really did.  He’d known her for centuries, and she was like family to him.  A daughter, a sister.  

 

The thought of choking her was still briefly tempting.

 

“Four hundred years, Nanaba.”  Eren said, covering his face with his hand to hide the bright flush on his cheeks.  “Four hundred fucking years, and you still have no chill.  I remember when we first met, you were so quiet and shy-”

 

“I was a child.  I thought you were going to eat me.  They TOLD me you were going to eat me.  It took me a while to realize that the fae leaving their children for you to devour was a big inside joke to them.  Jokes aside, though.  I can see waiting until the moon to change him, but when is he moving out of here?”

 

Levi looked at Eren with his eyebrows raised, an unspoken question written on his face.

 

“We haven’t really… talked about that, either.”

 

Nanaba huffed, unimpressed.

 

“You can scent the nest down the street, right?  And no more than a mile south of here there’s at least two-”

 

“Three.  Nosphoros, I know.”

 

Levi glanced at his front door like something was about to burst through it and eat him any moment before turning back to Eren.

 

“Excuse me, I’m sorry.  There are vampires near here?  And a  _ nest?   _ A nest of  _ what?”   _

 

“A nest of siphons.  Ah, they’re a type of infernal?  Demon, I guess, would be the closest thing to an accurate human term, though they don’t actually come from hell.  Siphons tend to be mostly harmless, they just feed off excess energy humans put off, emotions.  Anger, stress, excitement.  But infernals can attract a lot of trouble.  So combined with the  _ parasites  _ to the south-”

 

_ “Nanaba,”   _ Eren chided automatically, like a parent trying to stave off a fight between his children.  She stood, huffing again, light thrumming up around her as she looked at Eren, pinning him in place with a glare.

 

“You haven’t talked about turning him, or sealing your bond.  He hasn’t really met the pack.  You haven’t contacted Armin, he had to find out about all this through Jean last night after their run.  He was really upset, and from the look on your face right now you don’t even know why.  You haven’t talked about moving him out of here, or the literal demons he has for neighbors.  What have you been doing this whole time?”  

 

Eren shrugged, feeling Levi’s stare like an open flame, guilt washing over him in a wave.  

 

“Sleeping, mostly?  He was tired, lykos magic is hard for a human to handle.  He needed rest.”  

 

The light around Nanaba surged brighter, and when she spoke it was with three voices, all of them layering together.  Her own voice.  A second that was high and lilting and musical.  A third that was deep and resonant and unmerciful.  

 

“Eren Jaeger of the Shiganti, Alpha of the Marinata pack, blood of my blood.”  Eren felt his eyes flare up in answer, the bond between them just beneath his skin, shivering with energy.  “You will take care of this.  Get your shit together, or you will answer to me.”

 

Then she was gone in a flash, leaving Eren blinking the spots from his eyes and shaking his head.  

 

“Wow.”

 

Nanaba had  _ named  _ him.  Pulled out her  _ voice,  _ made a vow and bound it with magic, just to bitch him out.  

 

He didn’t know if he should be frightened or impressed.

 

“So…”  Levi started, and Eren turned like he was expecting a blow.  

 

Being turned, their mate bond, going into rut, demons and vampires.

 

Nanaba had laid out a lot of information that Eren would have much preferred to give Levi himself, in a more delicate manner.  

 

“I have a lot of questions, notably about the fucking demons lurking somewhere in the duplexes down the road, but one thing at a time.  Why the fuck did you look so surprised when I asked if you could turn me at the next full moon?  Is that a bad thing?  Why would I not want that?”

 

Eren looked at his hands where they were tangled in his lap, not quite brave enough to meet Levi’s gaze.

 

“It’s… a lot to think about.  The rest of your life, and that’s not just the next seventy years anymore, not if I turn you.  It could be thousands.  Who fucking knows how long you’d live, I certainly don’t.  You’d have to leave your job, at least until you can control your wolf.  New wolves move in with me and Jean when we do turn them, so we can keep them safe, and keep people safe from them.  That’s gonna mean moving your friends in, too, because I can’t just drag you away from them like that.  I dunno, I sort of feel like I came crashing into your life just to throw it into chaos.  Nobody signs up for a three thousand year old werewolf for a soulmate.”

 

“Nobody signs up for a soulmate at all.  And what’s the alternative to being turned?  Live the rest of my life like I am now, getting older, watching your heart break?  Let you watch me die a day at a time?”

 

Just the words were enough to hurt Eren, like a knife in his chest, and he reached out to pull Levi against him.  Buried his face in his hair and whined, animal and injured, while Levi sifted through his hair.

 

“I waited for you four years and it felt like forever.  I can’t imagine waiting as long as you did, alone.  I appreciate you wanting to give me options, but we’re soulmates.  I want to stay with you.  Besides, the next full moon is a month away, we have time to uh…  sort things out between us, as far the rest of it is concerned.”

 

As far as the rut is concerned, he didn’t say, but Eren could feel heat swelling through the bond between them.  He tugged Levi back into his lap, throat going tight, eyes starting to sting.

 

Eren hadn’t realized how terrified he was that Levi might refuse to be turned until right then, when the threat of it had passed.  The possibility of an eternity alone had yawned in front of him, endless and empty, his soulmate come, and gone, never to return.  Eren wasn’t sure he could have endured it.  Knowing what it felt like to hold Levi, and then letting him go, and carrying on as though he wasn’t broken.

 

Levi shushed him, and only then did he notice the sound he was making, something low and keening.  He went quiet, taking deep breaths, inhaling Levi’s scent.

 

“You okay?”

 

Eren nodded against his chest, not trusting himself to speak yet.  They sat there for a while in silence, and Eren could almost feel Nanaba judging his inaction.

 

But he’d waited for thousands of years to do this, and he wanted to hold onto Levi a little longer.

 

“Mmmm.  All right.  So there’s a bunch of demons living down the street, then?”

 

Eren barked out a manic laugh.

 

“Yeah, yeah there are, actually.  More than two.”

 

“So is that the duplex with the plastic flamingos in the bushes, or the one with the weird naked cherub statue sitting on the sidewalk surrounded by crushed beer cans and cigarette butts?”

 

He laughed again, a little less crazed, arms wrapping tight around Levi’s waist.

 

“I don’t actually know.  How about we just get you and Farlan and Isabel out of here before it becomes a problem?  I’d hate to have to terrorize a nest of mostly neutral demons for no reason.”

 

“So revenge killing is fine, but threatening a bunch of literal demons is going too far, am I getting this right?”

 

“I can already see that the sass is going to be an issue going forward.”

 

“Probably so, yeah.”

 

Then Levi leaned down and kissed him on the cheek, soft and tentative, and everything was fine.

  
  



	17. Unveil

Everything was fine. 

 

Levi breathed in and out, steady, forcing the twisting sensation of unease lurking under his skin further down.  He couldn’t let it sink its teeth too far into him, couldn’t let himself surrender to the anxious swell of nerves.

 

His feelings weren’t only his, anymore, and he didn’t want to worry Eren, or any of his packmates.  Would they be able to tell, to pick it up through the bond Eren had forged between them?  To detect the subtle thrum of panic lurking just behind his ribs, the uncertainty that wanted to bloom bright and vivid within Levi?  He filled his lungs until they ached, and emptied them slow.

 

He was safe, his friends were safe.  His soulmate was alive, and present, and whole.

 

Magic was real.

 

Not just the spiritual, abstract sort of magic that bound soulmates together, omniscient in the smallest of ways, but familiar.   Something Levi had grown up with, watched appear on people’s skin day after day, seen how it tied them together to create something new.

 

Surreal, defying reason, but simple.  Words, and connections, and nothing more.

 

Except there  _ was  _ more.

 

There were countless supernatural creatures in the world, tucked away in plain sight with no one the wiser.  Entire planes of existence that humans couldn’t see, couldn’t touch, couldn’t enter.  Demons in the alleys.

 

Werewolves in the woods.

 

Inhale.  Exhale.  

 

Everything was fine.

 

They went to buy groceries, taking Eren’s truck instead of borrowing the one behind the shop as Levi usually did, Pixis’ keys hidden under the worn floor mats going untouched.  It felt bizarrely anticlimactic, walking through the aisles of the store with Eren by his side.  Fluorescent bulbs buzzing bright above them, tinny pop music playing over the speakers, the static crackling of employees being paged.  

 

Life carrying on, tedious and mundane, while Levi’s world spun out wild beneath his feet.  But whatever might happen over the next days or weeks or month, Isabel and Farlan still had to eat, so Levi dutifully filled his cart with cereal and yogurt and fruit, listening to wheels squeak in protest as he turned corners.  Eren stayed quiet, watching with a pained expression as Levi meticulously calculated what they could afford to buy with the money they’d allotted to feed themselves for the week, obviously itching to say something.

 

Itching to pay for Levi’s stuff, probably, but he held his tongue, and Levi was grateful.  It was something normal he could hold onto, the comfort of routine in the face of his whole life being utterly upended.  Something he could do for himself, when it seemed like there would be so much out of his control soon.

 

Eren stayed quiet, but he also stayed close, reaching out to touch Levi again and again.  Nothing intrusive, but every brush of his fingers felt intimate, Eren’s hands on his shoulders, or easing Levi’s hair from his face.  Stepping in close behind him when someone wheeled by, passively protective, looming, silent but threatening.    

 

When they got to the registers to check out, Levi went to the cashier he always used on autopilot.  Alisha worked every Saturday, almost without fail.  She was fast, and polite, but didn’t put on a fake smile or make forced, cheery conversation, which Levi appreciated.  He and Eren loaded the groceries onto the counter, but when he looked up to greet Alisha, Levi startled.

 

She had slitted pupils, shaped like a cats, and her eyes lit up inhumanly blue.  Her teeth were all pointed, a mouth full of nothing but canines, and instead of nails she had talons tipping her fingers, sharp and vicious.  Scales shimmered over her cheekbones, and across parts of her throat, cobalt mixed with shades of green.  She smirked at Levi, eyes knowing, glancing from him to Eren and back again.

 

“Hello, Mr. Ackerman.  Would you like to use your loyalty card today?”  Alisha’s voice was deliberately casual, like she wasn’t scaled and clawed and unearthly.

 

Levi blinked at her, mouth open, frozen in place with a jar of jelly in one hand.

 

“You- you’re a…”

 

“I’m something,” she said, grinning wider as she glanced around them, the gesture made all the more unsettling by her shark-like teeth, “but so are you.  Or, well.”  She stuck out her tongue, which was black and forked and serpentine, tasting the air like a snake.  “You’re  _ almost  _ something.  This explains a lot, actually, you’ve always had the oddest heat signature around your soulmark.”  Her eyes cut over to Eren, glittering and full of humor.  “Got yourself a dog I see.”

 

Levi glanced towards Eren too, wondering if it was some great insult she’d thrown at him, but he didn’t seem bothered.  One corner of his mouth quirked up, and he shoved his hands into the pocket of his hoodie, eyes shimmering with the barest hint of green light.  Levi turned his attention back to Alisha, still not entirely able to wrap his head around the fact that she was some kind of… reptilian, something.

 

“Have you… have you always been a.. a…”  Levi trailed off, and Eren leaned down to murmur low in his ear, almost apologetic.

 

“It’s uhhh… considered rude, usually.  To ask.  You can’t just ask someone what they are.”

 

Alisha started scanning his items, still looking terribly amused, laughter in her voice.

 

_ “Yes,  _ I’ve always been this way.  You’re the one who’s different now, little wolf.  Or, not one yet, but soon.  Gonna be seeing all kinds of things you didn’t before, with that magic in your blood.  Bit off more than you were ready to chew, Mr. Ackerman?”  Alisha asked, nodding at Eren as she arched her neck, scratching lightly at her pulse point.  

 

Not so subtly calling attention to the vicious bite wound there, which Eren had assured Levi no one who didn’t recognize him as a lykos would even notice.   _ Got enough magic in my pack to draw a glamour,  _ he’d said, and only after a confused stare from Levi did he realize he needed to explain further.  About fae, and glamours, and how most supernatural beings, those who were born and not made, had evolved some kind of camouflage over the ages to hide themselves from humans.  

 

Not werewolves, though.  Werewolves had to be turned to undergo the change, and had no way conceal the flash of their eyes or the sharpness of their teeth.  Not unless they had a pack to call on with a fae in it, anyway.  

 

Evidently Eren had several, Nanaba one among many.  

 

Alisha continued talking, either oblivious to the flush on Levi’s cheeks at the mention of Eren’s bite wound, or ignoring it entirely.

 

“Never met a human with a wolf for a soulmate.  Freshly turned, sure.  Half bonded with a pack tie like an atom bomb, not so much.”

 

Eren looked away, strangely guilty, and Levi frowned at Alisha’s words.

 

“An atom bomb?”  

 

She snorted, inclining her head towards Eren as she worked her way through Levi’s purchases.  She sacked them up, and Eren shifted the bags to the cart wordlessly, both of them picking up Levi’s slack.

 

“Big daddy Alpha over here has you wired to fucking blow, my friend.  You’re radioactive.  Any supernatural so much as breathes on you wrong they’re gonna be catching all kinds of fallout.”  

 

Eren’s expression changed into one of confusion, and she cut him off before he had a chance to interrupt, index finger pointed at him accusingly.  

 

“Don’t look at me like that, lykos.  Like every creepy crawly in a thousand mile radius doesn’t know who you are, and to run straight to Marinata for asylum if shit goes south.” 

 

Eren’s mouth snapped closed, and he didn’t even try to disagree, relocating the last of Levi’s groceries to their cart.  Alisha rattled off a total, and Levi scanned his debit card unthinkingly, mind still rolling through their conversation.  That she wasn’t human.  

 

That he’d be noticing things he couldn’t before, now that he was tied to Eren’s pack with magic.  That she’d never seen a werewolf who hadn’t already turned their human mate.

 

That he was set to go off, nuclear style, if anyone tried to hurt him.

 

Inhale.  Exhale.

 

Everything was fine.

 

“See you around, Mr. Ackerman,” she said, winking, except with an opaque white eyelid that slid horizontally across her eye just before her normal lid closed.

 

They piled the plastic bags into the back of Eren’s truck, and climbed into the cab in silence.  Eren put the key in the ignition, and cranked it, before smiling over at Levi.

 

“Naga,” Eren said, and Levi blinked out of his daze, brows furrowed as he turned in his seat.

 

“...what?” 

 

Eren shrugged, throwing the truck into reverse and navigating towards the exit of the parking lot.

 

“She’s a type of naga.  Snake person.  Longer than average lifespan, but nothing dramatic.  Couple hundred years or so.  Harmless, generally speaking, unless provoked.  Venomous if they want to be, if they’re threatened.  They don’t usually gather in any kind of numbers, or have any desire to prey on humans, or anyone else.  Well… not the ones who show up around here, anyway.”

 

Levi stared, quiet for long enough that Eren cast him a worried look, probably feeling the twist of nausea rolling in his stomach.  He hadn’t lied to Eren when he told him he wanted to be turned.  Levi wanted to be with Eren, be part of his pack, stay beside him as long as he could.  It was just easier to accept everything that was happening to him surrounded by the familiar walls of his home, surrounded by Eren’s warmth.  Outside in the world, the reality of the situation felt heavier, less controlled.

 

Werewolves in the woods.

 

Naga at the grocery store.

 

A flash of the future.  Levi, with sharp teeth and bright eyes, trying to soothe a beast that lived inside him.  A new home, a new family, a new life.  A better life.  

 

More, not less. 

 

So much more it was hard to breathe, though, and Levi forced words out, ignoring the stones in his guts and the fire in his chest.

 

“ ‘M alright.  Just… it’s a lot.”

 

Eren whined low in his throat, an obvious apology, and reached out to take Levi’s hand.  He threaded their fingers together, and it helped more than Levi expected, the warm press of his skin, the solid reassurance of Eren’s touch grounding him.

 

It was a lot, but Eren was a lot, too.

 

Maybe everything wasn’t  _ fine,  _ but it would be eventually.

 

…

 

Farlan was sprawled on the couch when they got back to Levi’s to drop off the groceries, responding to Levi’s inquiring glance with a shrug.

 

“Double booked.  Ian got his schedule mixed up with mine, thought he worked today.  Needs the hours worse than I do, so I came home.  There’s ahhh, pasta and grilled chicken in the fridge, if you want lunch.  You need help with the groceries?”

 

Eren came in at that moment, arms so laden with bags he could barely fit through the door, and Farlan rolled his eyes.

 

“Of course you’re one of those.”

 

Eren looked confused, head cocked in a way that was unsettlingly canine, and paused in the entryway.

 

“One of what now?”  Eren asked.

 

Farlan gestured at all the bags he carried.

 

“One of those people who refuse to make two trips to carry in their groceries.”

 

Eren’s head tilted even further, more puzzled than before, like Farlan had asked him to solve a riddle. 

 

“Why would I make two trips?”

 

Farlan blinked in disbelief, looking towards Levi as if seeking validation.  Except Levi was smiling at Eren, wide and fond.  Could feel the expression on his face, but couldn’t rein it, couldn’t will it away.

 

“Oh my  _ God,”  _ Farlan said, exasperated, and headed into the kitchen ahead of them.

 

They ate first, Levi’s stomach protesting loudly enough that he could no longer ignore it.  Afterwards Farlan and Eren put everything away in relative silence, and Levi broke away to go brush his teeth again, wary of a house full of werewolves with keen noses.  He left the bathroom door open, and after few moments heard low voices creeping down the hall, barely audible.  Levi listened closer, curious as to what the two might be discussing, and something bright pooled in his chest, like electricity surging through him.

 

Then he could hear just fine, Eren and Farlan’s words coming through with startling clarity.  Still soft, but now unmistakable, and Levi could feel those invisible ties within him again, could sense them sprawling out in dozens of directions.

 

_ The ears of a wolf. _

 

The thought flitted through his mind unbidden, another on its heels.  In a voice that was his and yet not, buried deeper than his subconscious, coming alive like something ancient that had lain sleeping all his life.

 

_ Borrowed magic. _

 

“...kind a dick in general but, it’s nothing against you personally.  It’s just, he never does that, never…  Levi reads and binge watches tv shows with Izzy and cleans the house, he doesn’t get drunk and run off in the middle of the night.  It scared the shit out of me.  And then you show up, and don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for both of you but I mean you’re… it’s…”  Farlan trailed off, and Eren spoke up, soft and laced with a worry that Levi felt in his bones.

 

“A lot?” Eren said, parroting Levi’s words from earlier.

 

“To put it mildly, yeah.  I’ve got about a million things I want to ask, but I know this is all really new.  I’m trying to… to wrap my head around this shit, and give you guys some time to… adjust, or whatever.  So I’m sorry if I come off like an asshole, it’s not on purpose.  I’d give you the shovel talk, but besides the fact that you could fucking… eat me, or whatever, it’s- it’s irrelevant, you look at him like he hung the goddamn moon in the sky.  I’m not worried about you hurting him, but are like…  a whole legion of creepy monsters going to be after him now?  I’ve only been alive twenty years and there are probably a good half dozen people who’d seriously think about running me over with a car if they saw me walking down the road.  Thousands of years is a lot of time to make enemies.  Is he a target now, because he’s your soulmate?”

 

There was a pause, broken only by the sounds of cabinets opening and closing, the hum of the refrigerator, the clink of glass on glass.

 

“Yes, and no.  There are a lot of people- uhhh.... Beings?  Entities?  ...who would love to hurt me, or manipulate me, or take what’s mine.  My pack, my territory, my allies.  Levi would be the best way to do that.  He’s still human, he’s… vulnerable, physically speaking, but... he’s safer right now than he’s ever been.  He’s warded, and bound with magic, and covered in enough protections that it’s probably hard for some types of supernaturals to even look at him.  I…  I can’t promise nothing will happen to him, but I can promise I’ll keep him safe, or die trying.”

 

Another pause, heavy and tense, even from another room.  Then Farlan cleared his throat, and Levi could hear the smile in his words, could picture the smirk on his face.

 

“Keep my boy safe.  Don’t do any weird wolfy nonsense to him without his permission, and don’t shit in my floor, and we’ll go from there, all right?”

 

Eren huffed out a laugh in answer, and Levi could see it, too.  Could feel it in his chest, happiness running through him, pulled from Eren secondhand.

 

“All right.  I  _ am  _ gonna do some weird wolfy nonsense to your house, though, if that’s all right.  Once I’m done you won’t know it’s there, but it’s gonna help me protect you guys.”

 

‘Some weird wolfy nonsense’ turned out to involve Eren drawing strange sigils on their walls in his blood, both inside and out.  Eren sank his teeth into his own forearm, and Levi flushed hot at the sight of it, bright white teeth contrasting with vivid red.  Levi’s breathing came faster, his own teeth itching in his mouth, pulse beating so hard in his throat that he could feel every throb.  It was difficult not to writhe in place, and he felt his eyes do something odd.  It caught Eren’s attention, and he looked over at Levi.  Breathed in deep.  Let his lids fall closed and fucking  _ whimpered,  _ lips dripping crimson, shuddering all over _. _

 

Bond magic, Eren would tell him later on, riling at the presence of Eren’s blood, desperate to complete the change in Levi.  Making his instincts call out to Eren, to try and lure him in.  Making his scent stronger, and his eyes light up, if only for a moment.

 

Farlan stood there looking vaguely uncomfortable before he left the room, quietly mumbling something about calling Isabel as he fled.

 

Eren took some time to gather himself, and then dipped his fingers in the oozing red on his arm, and started drawing.  In their bedroom, first, arcane looking shapes mixed with bizarre runic lettering that it took Levi an embarrassingly long time to recognize as Shiganti.  Once Eren finished with the shape, a macabre splash of color on their pastel walls, he muttered something under his breath, and the symbol shimmered with white light before vanishing entirely.  He repeated the process in every room, having to reopen the wounds on his arm once before heading outside.  The sigil he used there was slightly different, and Eren started on the side of the house, placing one on each of the outer walls and finishing with an oversized version on the front door.

 

When the last sigil flashed bright and faded away, movement drew his eyes.  His neighbors who lived across the street a few units down were standing on the sidewalk in front of their house, almost unrecognizable from the way he remembered them.  Five of them, all clustered together with pale white skin, ink black eyes and hair, tendrils of smoke wisping off the strands.  

 

_ Siphons,  _ Levi’s mind supplied, that voice he’d heard earlier back but entirely untroubled by the demons a few dozen yards away..  They stared at Eren, expression varying between nervous and outright terrified as he looked back at them.

 

They tilted their heads in unison, far enough to the side that it looked painful, all of them baring their throats.  A few days ago the gesture would have puzzled Levi, but right then he recognized it for what it was instantly.  Supplication.

 

Submission.

 

Eren pulled Levi in close, never taking his eyes off the gathering of siphons, eyes bright and ominous as he stared.  He held their gazes, sinking his teeth into his arm again and wetting his fingers.  They were warm and slick on Levi’s throat as he drew a sigil there, and it simmered with power before disappearing, the taste of magic like copper in Levi’s mouth.

 

He leaned down to press his bloody lips to Levi’s cheek, a wordless threat to the demons watching them.  Levi turned into it automatically until their mouths met, licking into the kiss, making a pleased little noise when Eren’s hands threaded into his hair.  Tasted blood, and heat, going up on his toes in his eagerness.  Fire twisted through the bond between them, and it was Eren who pulled back first, wincing like it hurt to let Levi go.

 

When they looked across the street the siphons were gone.

...

 

They paused just outside of Eren’s door an hour or so later, fingers tangled, Eren watching him with furrowed brows.

 

“You ready?”

 

Levi nodded his head yes, but the nerves flowing into Eren through their bond told a different story entirely.  Eren smiled, pulling Levi into him, murmuring against his hair.

 

“They’re gonna love you, all right?”

 

He hoped that was true, because Eren’s happiness was depending on it.  This wasn’t some co-worker Levi could ignore during his shifts, or a nosy neighbor he could avoid.

 

These were Eren’s packmates.  His family.  He’d known some of them for over a thousand years.  

 

_ ‘Give or take a few centuries.’ _

 

When someone found their soulmate, they usually got stuck with a pair of in-laws, maybe a sibling or two.  A couple of questionable friends.  A shitty ex, an alcoholic cousin.

 

Levi had dozens of otherworldly beings suddenly in his life, all of whom depended on Eren for safety and stability and leadership.

 

Inhale.  Exhale.

 

“Let’s get this over with.”

 

Eren pressed a kiss to Levi’s hair, and moved to open to door, only for Levi to reach out and stop him with a hand on his arm and a frantic-

 

“WAIT!”  The look he got from Eren was something between worried and confused.  Levi felt Eren reaching into him, into his consciousness.  Intimate, like all the little touches at the grocery store, but not intrusive.  “This is your family, right?  Should I have brought them a gift, or something?”

 

Levi’s mind flashed through all the movies he’d seen, the trope laden tv shows, Isabel’s shitty romance novels.  Someone meeting their soulmate’s family, and bringing wine, or flowers, or food.  What the fuck was he supposed to bring to a half dozen moderately rich werewolves?

 

The first thing that popped up in his head was steak, followed immediately by dog toys, neither of which were particularly helpful.  Not that he would have been able to afford any kind of legitimate, extravagant offering.

 

Plus they were already there, waiting outside Eren’s house, Levi empty handed.  Panic welled again,  overwhelming.  What were they expecting of Eren’s soulmate?

 

Probably not a broke ass mechanic in ripped up jeans with scarred knuckles, vaguely hungover from werewolf magic, a scowl semi-permanently etched into his face.  There was no way he could be anything other than a disappointment in the long run.  To Eren’s pack.

 

To Eren himself.

 

Then Eren’s arms were around him, and something warm and honey sweet was pouring into him.  He thought it was the same magic from the night before, that sugary drugging energy that had eased him back from his anxiety and into sleep.  Except it wasn’t.  There was no haze falling over him.  The world wasn’t softly blurring at the edges, making him loose and dazed and euphoric.

 

Just bliss, and adoration, and a vicious sense of protectiveness.  Levi closed his eyes, and reached for it, feeling it out carefully.  

 

_ A mirror,  _ that voice within Levi whispered, confident and unruffled.

 

_ What you make him feel, reflected back at you. _

 

Worship, lying in wait for thousands of years, overflowing unchecked.

 

What love would feel like if it had been distilled down and purified into something dangerously intense.  

 

Eren’s mouth was in his hair, again, hands splayed out over his back, sliding up between his shoulders.

 

“They’re gonna love you,” is what Eren said, and Levi nodded against his chest, not trusting himself to speak.

 

_ I love you,  _ is what Levi felt pushing through the ties between them, fierce and infinite and unyielding.

 

Warm, and honey sweet, and everything he needed.


	18. Pack

It was hard to breathe.  Too hot, and Levi’s senses ran high, picking up things they weren’t able to before; stealing Eren’s power to let him hear and see and feel every insignificant detail.  The soft brush of hair on his jaw, the sharper drag of stubble over his throat, the insistent press of fingers around his wrist. The smell of citrus, shampoo maybe, or soap.  Hypervigilance, except he wasn’t looking for danger, or waiting for a blow. 

 

Something deep within him was basking in the moment, warm and safe and welcome like he’d only ever felt sleeping between Isabel and Farlan back when they were teenagers.  When being pressed between them was the only safe place he had, far away from his uncle, from school, from the whole damn world. An oasis of belonging, and he sank into it once again, body going loose and relaxed.  Anxiety he hadn’t been aware he was carrying softened, and settled, melting away like ice from his bones. 

 

A werewolf he only barely recalled meeting the night before was hugging him, face shoved into Levi’s neck as he breathed in, rubbing his cheek over the skin there.  Levi felt like he should be troubled by this, but it wasn’t uncomfortable, even as he let his hand slide up to rest on the back of the blonde’s head. Jean, he thought absently, but less because he remembered him from the woods and more due to the brief descriptions Eren had given of his roommates on the way over.  His fingers tangled in Jean’s hair, slow and easy. A thoughtless gesture, familiar without being overly intimate, like when he brushed Izzy’s bangs back from her face.

 

Another werewolf, this one entirely unfamiliar, lifted Levi’s wrist to his nose and inhaled before running his fingers- brief but deliberate- over Levi’s pulse point.  Connie, if he remembered correctly, but it didn’t seem relevant. 

 

His brain said  _ Connie, _ but his instincts said  _ pack,  _ like that was all that mattered.  Like his name was secondary to the way Levi could feel them tied together inside, bound with energy he couldn’t see.

 

Connie stepped away without putting much distance between them, and Levi watched him rub his fingertips over his own wrist with a detached sort of curiosity.  The third wolf, in her animal form, could only be Sasha. She circled around them excitedly, shoving her face in to nose at Levi’s belly, nuzzling hard enough that he almost fell over.  He reached down with his free hand in a haphazard attempt to pet her, but she was jumping around too much for anything but the most fleeting of touches.

 

The only two people not mobbing him were pair of women, still lounging on the couch, their gazes  keen. Historia and Ymir, and they both sniffed surreptitiously at the air, eyes lit up a faint yellow.  Not wolves, Eren had said, but still pack. Coyote shifters who’d turned up in Marinata a few centuries before, on the run from some renegade fae, and never really left once the threat had been neutralized.  They felt different to Levi than the others, though he couldn’t say exactly how, couldn’t put into words. Different energy, maybe. He wasn’t really sure.

 

He wasn’t really sure how he’d arrived at this place in his life, in general.  In an absurdly nice house on the edge of the woods, magic in his bones, werewolves clinging to him like he might disappear.

 

Like they’d be devastated if he did.

 

Levi sensed Eren watching him carefully, felt his wariness slipping through their bond.  He’d warned Levi, with disconcerting earnestness, that most werewolves had issues with personal space where their packs were concerned.

 

As in they required none, and gave none, and had long since ceased to understand the concept.  They lived up to his expectations, and then some, barely waiting for Eren’s front door to close behind Levi before descending on him in unison.

 

“They’re scenting you,”  Eren said eventually, apologetic, “which I told them  _ not to do  _ without asking _.   _ Guys.  Human. Boundaries.  We talked about this.” 

 

They’d texted about it, technically, because Eren hadn’t actually made any phone calls, but still.  The idea of a bunch of supernatural beings getting scolded like children for dogpiling him was amusing, and Levi couldn’t help his smirk, but Eren’s roommates didn’t seem overly deterred.

 

Connie retreated another step without looking the least bit sorry, and Jean and Sasha ignored Eren like he hadn’t spoken at all.  Sasha licked Levi’s palm and wrist enthusiastically, and Jean tightened his arms fractionally where they were looped around Levi’s waist, holding on, digging in.  Then Jean spoke, whisper soft, so quiet Levi felt the tug of magic as he struggled to make out the words.

 

“I’m glad you’re finally here.  He’s been waiting a long, long time.”

 

He sounded so sincere that something in Levi’s chest twisted at the raw emotion there, the unfettered gratitude.  Levi could hear it in his voice, but also feel it, humming under his skin, pouring from Jean and into himself. He scratched his fingers against Jean’s scalp without questioning the action, unsure of what to say.  It wasn’t as if he’d done anything deserving of praise. Just existed, and been lucky enough to find Eren in the woods, drawn there by things larger than himself. 

 

The moon in the sky.  The words on his wrist.  The power in them both. 

 

Magic again, older than he could fathom, lying in wait; patient in a way he couldn’t begin to understand.

 

Jean finally eased back, grinning unabashedly at Levi before turning towards Eren.  

 

They held each other’s gazes for a long moment, communicating wordlessly, Eren looking from Jean to Levi and back again.  Then a smile spread across his face like dawn breaking, slow and breathtaking, and Jean reached out to jerk Eren into his arms.  Eren buried his face in Jean’s shoulder, and Levi could see the edge of his smile, his closed eyes. The way his hands fisted in Jean’s shirt like he needed to hold on, to ground himself.  He made a weak little noise— something high and whimpering but not unhappy— and Jean huffed out a laugh, fingers combing idly though Eren’s hair.

 

“I know, I know, shhh.  God, I’m so happy for you,” Jean said, his voice unsteady.  

 

All Levi could think of right then was how long Jean had been by Eren’s side.  How long his pack had been there to watch out for him, keeping him safe for centuries before Levi had even been born.

 

Keeping him from being alone.  It ached, suddenly, how thankful Levi was for that.

 

It felt heavy, to owe a debt he could never repay.

 

“You can feel it, yeah?  How different the ties are now?  He’s not even turned yet, and I can barely look at them.  They’re so bright it hurts,” Jean said, pulling out of the embrace, his hands lingering on Eren’s neck, on his forearm.

 

“I can’t tell the difference,” Connie said, shrugging, sheepish.  “I can still barely pick them out.”

 

Levi was so focused on Jean and Eren that he didn’t notice Sasha rearing up until she was tackling him to the floor in a graceless heap.  She landed on top of him, heavy enough to have Levi wheezing under her weight, all sharp nails and warm fur. She licked at his face, tail wagging so hard her whole body shook, pawing restlessly at Levi’s chest.  Her claws raked lines into his skin through the thin fabric of his shirt, and his ribs protested the strain, spine knocking hard into the wood.

 

Jean and Eren released one another in unison and scrambled over to help.  Jean hauled Sasha off Levi by the collar, and Eren tugged him back up, his limbs falling into line as he found his footing again.  Once he was upright Eren stepped in close, hands running lightly over his chest like he was checking for injuries, fingers tipping his chin up.  He traced a claw mark with his thumb, the edge peeking out of Levi’s collar and disappearing down under his clothes. Eren frowned, staring at the scratch like he could make it vanish with his eyes, glare it out of existence.  Vague unhappiness thrummed between them, and Levi took Eren’s hand in his, and forced it away.

 

“ ‘m fine, she just caught me off guard,” Levi said, glancing over at Sasha, who was still pulling against Jean’s hold on her collar, jumping and whining and fighting to get free.  Sasha was huge, and it should have been impossible for Jean to hold her back so effortlessly given their relative sizes, but he didn’t appear to be having any trouble. His expression was more annoyed than anything else, and after a moment he sighed, rolling his eyes.

 

_ “Sasha,”  _ Jean said, and Levi felt it brush over him like a breeze, “stop it.  Be still.” 

 

It wasn’t loud, or angry, but there was an undertone that brooked no argument.  A command, the soft pull of magic, a wash of quiet power in the room. Sasha stilled immediately with a low whine, shoving her nose into Jean’s belly.  He released her collar and let his fingers sink into the fur behind her ears, scratching gently with both hands as he looked down at her.

 

“It’s okay.  But he’s human, you gotta calm down, alright?”

 

She sneezed in his face, and he sighed again, pulling the collar of his shirt up to wipe at his cheeks.  Levi coughed to hide his grin, and Eren slid an arm around him, but didn’t seem aware of the movement. Urging Levi closer instinctively, palm closing over his hip, face sinking into his hair.

 

“She hasn’t been able to shift back?” Eren asked, and Jean shrugged, still petting through Sasha’s fur.

 

“Excited, I guess?  Pack ties are fucking haywire right now.  She’s been doing better than this, in general.  Hopefully by next moon it’ll settle. If not, well...”  Jean’s eyes flitted between Sasha and Levi, contemplative, “I guess we’ll see how it goes.”

 

Eren hummed, lost in thought as he nosed at Levi’s temple, eyes glowing bright but unseeing.  Looking at things beyond Levi’s comprehension. Checking in on his wolves scattered wolves, power reaching out over the miles between them.  Eventually he blinked the light out of his irises, looking down at Levi like he was emerging from a fog. 

 

“Anyway,”  Eren said, pausing to press a brief kiss to Levi’s cheek, “these are my roomates.  Jean, my second. Historia and Ymir, resident coyote royalty. Connie, recently turned, but not quite so recently as Sasha here, who is about five moons into her wolf and counting.”  Eren nodded towards each of them as he ran through introductions, and they nodded back, Connie giving a little wave, Sasha woofing happily. “Everybody, this is Levi, my halfsoul.”

 

Eren blushed when he said the word, antiquated but not unheard of, even if the last time Levi had come across it was in an outdated novel.  

 

Pink lit up Eren’s cheeks, and joy lit up his eyes, fresh and vivid.  Like it was hitting him all over again, what they were to one another.  It wasn’t the first time he’d caught Eren doing it over the past day, looking at him like he was surprised to see him there, like he couldn’t quite believe it was true.  He forced himself to look away and greet everyone, nodding back at them.

 

“Ah, hey.  Nice to meet all of you.”  Except he’d actually met a few of them the night before, even if he didn’t really remember.

 

Since he’d been drunk on magic, bloody faced and half dressed, trying to climb Eren like a tree.  He cringed, scratching at the back of his head, one eye squinting a bit.

 

“Sorry for being uh… weird, I guess.  Last night.”

 

Historia and Ymir grinned, the latter rolling her eyes as Connie snorted.  Jean let out a bark of laughter, gesturing vaguely around the room at the lot of them.

 

“We’re shapeshifters.  I’m three thousand years old.  A ghost lives in a jewelry box in one of the guest rooms, alongside a pile of assorted fangs and a bag of actual fairy dust.  There’s an  _ interdimensional portal  _ in the our woods.  I watched myself walk out of it once, long story, but anyway.  Last night doesn’t even come close to registering on our weirdness scale, don’t worry about it.  We’re just really happy to meet you.”

 

It was a hard to bite his tongue against the plethora of questions those statements raised, but Levi managed.  Maybe he was getting better at filing things away in his brain as ‘supernatural bullshit to be addressed later’.

 

Or he was just in denial.  It wasn’t his go-to coping mechanism, but he’d never had to deal with this kind of thing before, and shutting down emotionally wasn’t going to help him much here.

 

Wasn’t going to help much ever again, with a werewolf who could sense his emotions for a soulmate.  

 

One who could feel the anxiety twisting in him, and clung a little tighter, but didn’t say anything.  Levi took a deep breath, held it, let it out slow.

 

“That’s…  maybe not as comforting as you intended, but likewise.  Eren talks a lot about you guys.” 

 

Ymir sneered, more playful than hostile, rearranging her legs underneath herself.

 

“Eren talks a lot about  _ pack,  _ if I were to hazard a guess, and not really us specifically. __ We’re just the greatest hits.  You still have about two dozen wolves to get invasively scented by.” 

 

“Two hundred fifty years later and Ymir’s still mad she can sense the pack ties when she swore up and down they weren’t real.  ‘Werewolf wives’ tales’, I believe you said, and then cried when they used the pack magic to find us in the desert. I’ll never understand what it is about coyotes and feelings,” Historia said with a sigh.

 

“You are, in fact, also a coyote,” Connie pointed out.  Historia shrugged one shoulder.

 

“I’m not allergic to emotions.  I’m an outlier.”

 

“Anyway,” Eren interrupted, unsubtle, eager to cut off what felt like a familiar argument, “I didn’t want to throw the whole pack at him at once, but we’ll get there.”

 

“Trying to play damage control already?”  Ymir asked with a grin.

 

“I already offended your other roommate, what’s a few more angry supernatural beings.”

 

A twisting metal decoration fell off the wall, hitting the floor with a clank, and Levi laughed.  It was manic and loud, but Levi couldn’t seem to tamp down on the wild sound of it. A ghost was mad at him.

 

His soulmate was a werewolf, and his neighbors were demons, and a snake woman sold him peanut butter and napkins every week.  

 

Vampires lived near the abandoned baseball field down the road from his house, and a faerie had healed his feet, and in a month Levi would turn into a giant dog and howl at the moon.  All his old problems were abruptly, painfully, irrelevant.

 

Levi had spent most of his life thinking his uncle was the worst kind of monster, and he hadn’t been mistaken, but he’d gotten the scale all wrong.

 

He was so small, in the grand scheme of things, that Levi didn’t know if he should feel terrified or relieved.

 

Power rolled into him, and a faraway part of Levi recognized it for what it was, pack magic trying and failing to soothe his nerves.  He took a deep breath, but there still wasn’t enough air, and this time it didn’t have anything to do with a pack of wolves surrounding him too tightly, eager to say hello.

 

“I’m sorry, I think…  I think I need some air,”  Levi choked out, dodging Eren’s hold and slipping back out the door.

 

The forest stretched for miles behind Eren’s house, and the trees closed around him like they were welcoming him home.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> //rolls theatrically away


	19. Solace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is really self indulgent and I'm not even a little sorry.

The woods had never been a comfort for Levi.  

 

He’d never spent any significant amount of time outside the city, and nature was a strange, unfamiliar place to him.  Beautiful but always vaguely threatening, like it would swallow him up if he wasn’t careful. 

 

Now he wondered if that was because he could sense the unseen things lurking there with some buried, dormant part of himself that was waiting to be brought to life.

 

The forest Eren’s house was nestled in felt like a different world entirely.  Welcoming.

 

Like somewhere he’d been, and loved and always wanted to return.

 

He didn’t go very deep into the trees— Levi only wanted a minute alone to breathe and get himself together, not to get lost in some disused corner of a national park.  He headed down a well-worn path, stopping just past a rise in the terrain when he could see nothing but woods on all sides. Close enough to Eren’s house that he wouldn’t panic, hopefully, but isolated enough to give Levi a sense of privacy, even if it was entirely artificial.

 

There was an outcropping of rocks jutting up from the ground ahead, one of them low and flat and smooth, and Levi sat down there and leaned against the stone with a sigh.  

 

He wasn’t sure if he was overreacting to everything, or underreacting, but either way being outside helped.  It was easier to breathe out in the open surrounded by Eren’s woods, like there was more room in the world for all the things he now knew inhabited it.    Levi was a little surprised Eren hadn’t already trailed after him, apologizing for things that weren’t his fault, trying to make him feel better.

 

It wouldn’t be long, Levi was sure, but he was grateful to have a second to gather himself.  He’d known Eren less than a day, but he already felt vital— necessary, like a part of Levi’s body, something he couldn’t live without.

 

Losing Eren would be like losing a limb, and it was a little bit frightening, but mostly Levi just felt whole in a staggering, awe-inspiring sort of way.

 

It was still a lot to take in— life as he knew it being upended and shaken like a snow globe to leave Levi watching everything settle back into place differently than it had been before.  

 

In a month he’d be a werewolf.  Unemployed, at least temporarily.  Living with Eren, and his pack.

 

Possibly stuck in an animal form until he could get the hang of shifting, and there it was again, that tightness in his chest, too much too fast too close.

 

Levi laid his head back on the rocks behind him, clenching and unclenching his fists, the pack ties impossible to ignore.

 

They twisted bright through him, like veins he could feel, full of energy and power.  Right then they were lit up with worry, and guilt. Eren, blaming himself for Levi’s stress, even if it was entirely out of his control.  It was going to take some getting used to, feeling everything Eren did, knowing his own emotions were blatant and unmistakable. A level of honesty he wasn’t sure he was ready for with someone he just met, even if it was his soulmate.  It wasn’t that Levi would have lied to Eren, not outright.

 

It would have been a lot easier to pretend he was fine if Eren couldn’t immediately tell otherwise, though— Levi’s preferred method of dealing with negative emotions was to act like they didn’t exist, and wait for them to go away.  He didn’t think that was an option anymore, and it was stifling in a way he didn’t know how to manage. 

 

Vulnerable in a way he wasn’t accustomed to making himself, and Levi took a breath, and tried not to feel small.

 

A noise drew his attention before he could lose himself any further in his thoughts, leaves rustling, the smallest hint of movement.  Perched on a nearby branch up above him was a pair of owls, stark white and eerie. Larger than Levi thought they should be, probably, and one of them hooted softly at him, head turned strangely as only owls could manage.  As far as he knew owls were nocturnal, and it seemed odd that these were out during the day, watching Levi like he was interesting somehow.

 

“Are you weres too?  Gonna turn into a couple of naked guys?  Just, hanging out in a tree?” 

 

They didn’t answer, and Levi tried to gauge how likely it was that he was talking to two perfectly normal owls like a crazy person.

 

As he returned their stare another sound broke through the quiet of the forest, a twig snapping, and when Levi glanced over his breath caught.  Slipping out of the shadow of a small copse of trees was a wolf, pitch black with bright blue eyes. Not a werewolf; it was too small, too hesitant. 

 

Moving like Levi might be a threat, and no werewolf would be so wary of him.  

 

Then he thought of Alisha, and the things she said about him, and realized maybe they would.

 

It slunk closer, low to the ground, obviously nervous but curious enough to keep moving towards him.  Levi’s heart beat faster, and he sat up straight; not afraid like he should rationally be, but those bright veins of energy in him didn’t rile, didn’t twist, didn’t quake.  He wasn’t sure why he was so certain this wolf wasn’t a threat, but he was, and Levi just watched it carefully as it closed the distance between them.

 

It was a few yards away when something chittered to his left, and he followed the sound with his gaze.  Levi’s breath caught in his throat, something with bright red irises peering at him from around a tree. Human eyes, or at least human like, a tangle of black hair above them, dirty fingers clinging to the bark underneath.  Levi waited for the panic that should have been there, the merciless terror- a red eyed monster of some sort was close enough to strike- but it didn’t come.

 

He was considering standing very slowly, and backing out of the trees, but the forest didn’t give him a chance.

 

A raven landed on the rock next to him, cawing loudly, shooting Levi a look than managed to be unimpressed.  A deer loped into view, except it was grey instead of brown, mottled white along its flank, antlers curving like ivory atop its head.  A black cat crawled into Levi’s lap abruptly— a black cat with three eyes, one of them in the center of its forehead, bright gold where the others were grey.

 

Tiny, winged, impossible things emerged from out of nowhere, a half-dozen of them flitting from a circle mushrooms to a patch of clover and back again, lighting up intermittently.  Green, and pink, and blue, like fireflies except too big, and shaped all wrong, and they weren’t fairies, they  _ weren’t, _ Levi couldn’t deal with that level of bullshit right then.

 

The woods were alive with unearthly stares, and the quiet, subtle movements of creatures used to remaining unseen.  The cat in his lap blinked up at Levi with all three eyes, nudging into his hand with a purr, and Levi swore under his breath as he looked all around.  The raven hopped up to land on his forearm, the buck edging close enough that Levi could have reached out and touched its nose, the wolf sitting down a few yards away with his head tilted inquisitively.

 

Levi sighed, breathing out, and out, and out, until there was no air left in his lungs.

 

“What kind of cartoon princess fuckery is this?”  Levi asked no one in particular, scritching at the cat’s chin with his fingers, throwing a cautious glance at the red eyes watching him from afar.

 

“They’re curious about you,” Eren answered from somewhere behind Levi, footsteps growing deliberately louder as he approached.

 

Most of the creatures skittered away when they caught sight of him, like misbehaving children whose parents had shown up unannounced, but not all of them could be bothered to move.  The cat didn’t appear concerned, purring louder and twisting in Levi’s lap, drinking up his attention. The wolf seemed happy to see Eren, bounding up for pets, rolling in the dirt at his feet to show Eren his belly as his tail wagged frantically.  Eren obliged him, scratching at his stomach for a moment before standing again. 

 

He glanced around, taking in the buck and the raven and the unblinking scarlet eyes without concern.  Then he noticed the little winged things, strobing in rainbow bursts of light, and swore, taking a few angry steps in their direction.

 

“No, no, you fucking  _ know better,  _ you can  _ fuck right off,”  _ Eren said, making a gesture with his hand and uttering something in a language Levi didn’t recognize.

 

Levi felt a tug of magic, and the… fairies, or whatever the hell they were, started chirping furiously, flying directly into the circle of mushrooms and vanishing entirely.  The mushrooms seemed to grow in reverse, getting smaller and smaller before disappearing into the ground. After a few long moments flowers bloomed where they had been, purple petals erupting, and Levi squinted at them.

 

“Yeah, yeah, you’re very fucking funny,” Eren said, kicking at the earth the flowers were growing from until he uprooted them.

 

“Is that-”

 

“Wolfsbane, yes,” Eren spat, and Levi couldn’t help but laugh.

 

“Is it dangerous?  For werewolves?” There was undeniable amusement in his voice, and Eren smiled at Levi in spite of himself.

 

“Not really.  Itches, makes us sneeze.  It could be dangerous for a very young, very weak wolf, or a severely injured one, in enough quantity.  They’re just being smartasses,” Eren said. Levi had stopped petting the cat, and it gnawed gently on his knuckles to get his attention, mewling softly until he resumed.

 

“‘They’?” Levi asked, and Eren sighed.

 

“Fae sprites.  They’re a lot like ants.  Irritating, but not really dangerous unless they attack in numbers.  Or if they manage to get you through a ring, and back into faerie. They can’t actually pull anyone through in my territory, the wards won’t allow it, but that doesn’t stop them from trying,” he said, moving to sit next to Levi.

 

The grey buck snorted, and nosed hard into Eren’s shoulder before trotting off through the trees.  

 

“And that was…?”  

 

“The deer?  Is a… forest spirit, I guess you’d say?  ‘Avatar of the hunted’, I believe, is what Armin said it’s called.  If you’re in its woods being hunted by something, or someone, and you come across it, it judges you— worthy or unworthy.  If you’re worthy it will slay your pursuers. If you’re unworthy, it’ll slay you instead, and leave you for them to find,” Eren finished with a shrug, like it was no big deal, and Levi did his best not to gape.  Pointed at the wolf, and cocked one eyebrow, waiting.

 

“Oh, that’s Rowan.  It’s uhhh… what happens when a were changes into their animal form, and forgets their humanity altogether.  They just, become the wolf, and never shift back. Rowan’s been in Marinata longer than I have, he’s pack,” Eren said, and Levi nodded at the raven, who’d hopped down beside Levi’s feet and was picking at his shoelaces.  Eren laughed. “That is actually just a regular ass bird. Nanaba healed it once, and it’s been here ever since.”

 

Levi laughed too, then, leaning against Eren, who slipped his arm around him.  Levi relaxed into it, and went quiet, and still. He could have asked about the cat in his lap, the owls watching from above, the eerie red eyes staring at them curiously, but it didn’t feel important.  Eren wasn’t worried, and Levi didn’t need all the answers, not all at once.

 

Didn’t want them all, really, not when he already felt overwhelmed.

 

“It’ll get easier,” Levi said, curling a little further into Eren, “I might freak out some, here and there, but I’m not going anywhere.  Not far, at least,” he added, and Eren’s fingers were in his hair, petting through the strands.

 

“Just the backyard?”  Eren asked, and Levi grinned, but didn’t reply.  “You’re safe anywhere in these woods. And we don’t have to go back inside right now.  It can wait, if you need some time,” Eren said, and Levi shook his head.

 

“No, it’s okay.  I want to,” Levi said, and knew Eren could feel the truth in it, the way he’d settled, inside and out.

 

The world had been big enough for werewolves and ghosts and demons since well before Levi had been born, and it was big enough for them now.  He just needed to adjust his perspective, and it might be jarring, but he thought he could manage.

 

They stayed outside for a while, a three eyed cat purring in Levi’s lap, something nervous and pale and inhuman watching them keenly from the darkness.

 

Then they went inside, and Eren’s pack was there with open arms.

 

With dirty paws, and a wet nose, and maybe some fur in his mouth.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
